Anger mounts at Glasson road closure plans

Westmeath County Council is currently negotiating with the contractor on the Glasson/Ballykeeran/Coosan sewerage scheme to attempt to minimise the impact of the planned closure of the N55 (Athlone to Ballymahon) road through the village. There is mounting anger in the village at news that access to the village could be closed for five weeks due to pipe laying work associated with the new sewerage scheme in the town. The council recently outlined plans to close the Low Road on the N55 at Glasson Village from August 4 to September 8. Speaking at Monday's meeting of Westmeath County Council, county manager Danny McLoughlin said he was aware of the local concerns and issues. He also raised plans to divert HGV traffic away from the area entirely, by advance signage in towns as far away as Granard and Birr. Cllr Mark Cooney said he hoped it would now be possible to have some local access and that the road closure would not last for five weeks. "I've been very concerned about this in terms of the loss of revenue to business in the village. Raising the matter last week at an Athlone area committee of Westmeath County Council, Cllr Mark Cooney said the hadn't been aware a closure order was needed and said councillors should be notified before such closures were advertised. He said to divert traffic onto the L1437 (Brittas Road) and R390 (Athlone to Ballymore) would cause chaos as these roads were unable to deal with the volume of traffic already on them without the addition of the traffic from the N55. He added that businesses in Glasson village were hugely dependent on passing traffic and said the council could not close the entire village to passing traffic for five weeks and asked if there was any other way to lay the pipes without the road closure. Cllr Frankie Keena (FF) said he also hadn't been aware of the road closure and said while the work had to take place the council should look at all angles and try to keep the road open as much as possible. His party colleague Cllr Tom Allen supported the motion and said there was no way the council could close the village, especially at a time when tourists would be visiting the area. Cllr Joe Whelan (FG) supported the remarks about the road closure. Director of Services Barry Kehoe said the contractor had an obligation to construct the scheme in a safe manner and had made an application to the council two weeks ago for the road closure and this was processed and a notice was published so that submissions could be taken from the public. He said these submissions would be considered before a decision was made. Meanwhile, members heard that the Glasson/Ballykeeran/Coosan sewerage scheme would be completed by April next year. It had initially been scheduled for completion by December this year or January next, but due to some delays it is now expected to be completed by April. The lands to be served by the initial phase of the scheme include Glasson village from the junction on the Ballymahon Road to the junction of the High Road and Low Road, Ballykeeran village, the caravan park, internal Cornamaddy lands as set out in the Local Area Plan, 600m of the Garnafeile Road and 400m of the Cornamaddy Road.