Council says street lamps for sale have ‘no historic value’

Westmeath County Council has confirmed it has no issue with four Victorian-style lamp posts which previously adorned the banks of the River Shannon in Athlone being offered for sale on a popular marketplace website.

Westmeath County Council has moved to assure members of the public that the items have “no historic value" and that they were left to the contractor involved in building a new greenway bridge over the Shannon.

In a statement issued to the Westmeath Independent on foot of a query about the online sale, Director of Services, Barry Kehoe, said the lamp standards were “within the site of the new bridge and ancillary structures” and in common with all other materials that had to be removed to facilitate the construction of the new bridge “were a matter for the contractor.”

He stressed that, since the lamp standards “have no historic value” the council “did not seek to have these returned to a council depot” as they are not suitable for reuse elsewhere.

The council statement added that new lighting with LED lanterns, and to modern standards, is to be installed as part of the bridge contract.

“To clarify, the design may be Victorian, but the lamp standards were installed in recent decades,” said the statement.

The lamp posts went on sale for €250 each the week before last.

The seller of the lamp posts posted that they were salvaged and come with lights and wiring all intact.

The ad has since been taken down.