Cross border co-operation from Fine Gael on "turf war"

Two Fine Gael councillors have joined forces and vowed to attempt to improve relationships between Athlone Town Council, Roscommon County Council and Westmeath County Council. Athlone Town Cllr Mick O"Connell and Roscommon County Cllr John Naughten have said this week they would like to see the local authorities in the area taking a more joined up approach in relation to infrastructural projects order to benefit all the people of Athlone regardless of which side of the county boundary they live on. Cllr O"Connell welcomed the response from Westmeath County Manager Danny McLoughlin to a question he posed during a recent Athlone Chamber of Commerce question and answers session where the councillor asked how relations could be improved between the local authorities. Mr McLoughlin said he would be amenable, post-June 5, to bringing together the public representatives from the local authorities to bury the hatchet in terms of the "turf war". Commenting this week Cllr O"Connell said: 'I welcome the County Manager"s response to my question. It is very positive and effectively he has floated the idea for a more structured approach to how the entire town of Athlone is developed, regardless of county and administrative boundaries. It is important that we do what we can to ensure that the services provided across the town by the local authorities are capable of supporting the growing population.' Cllr O"Connell added that there had been many examples lately where he felt improvements in communication could be made, such as the road closures and changes in Monksland which had a wider impact across Athlone. 'We should, where possible, look for opportunities to reduce cost and provide better service to the public. For example, why should Roscommon people not be able to tax their cars in Athlone?' he asked. He pointed out that people on the Westmeath side of Athlone had made representations to him about inadequate signage around road diversions and he passed these onto his party colleague on Roscommon County Council John Naughten, who raised it with the council executive. 'In this instance the responsibility was with the NRA and this is an example where both councils combined could have more clout by combining their collective skills and lobby for what"s best for Athlone.' Cllr O"Connell concluded: 'The people will decide shortly who will be returned post June. If I am successful I will progress this joint council approach to progressing Athlone. Cllr John Naughten has also expressed a similar desire to lead this from the Roscommon side. If either John or I are not successfully returned I believe there is enough merit in this approach for other public representatives to take up the lead.' Cllr Naughten said he welcomed any progress on this front. 'It is very important for the councils to work together, especially where projects are overlapping, such as the project in St Coman"s Park and in Monksland. It is very important for the local communities that we provide facilities and work together to make sure this happens.' He added that if he is re-elected in June he would like to progress this idea further. 'This is not just about the councillors working together, but also the council executives,' he added.