Sligo road nightmare persists
Newly-elected councillors to Sligo Corporation didn't waste any time at
all in getting down to business. A week after their first meeting,
councillors called a special meeting to hear from residents about the
outrageous neglect of roads in the Cartron Bay Estate.
The roads and services on the estate were never completed at the time of
the original construction of the houses over 20 years ago. Since then,
potholes have grown to craters. Residents have to wade across lakes on the
road and footpaths. Sometimes the water is up to the doorsteps. You'd need
wellies to get out at all. Cars have been damaged negotiating a way to the
houses. There is no compensation because the developer and the Corpo are
disputing liability.
Eleven years ago, Cartron Bay Construction, Ltd., which originally built
the 91 houses on the estate, was ordered by the High Court to repair the
roads and services to the estate. They still haven't done so. Residents
have asked the corporation to take over the job, which is estimated to cost
£320,000. The Corporation has refused, saying that it is the developer's
job to get the work done.
To the amazement of residents, last month the corporation agreed to sell a
further one and a half acres of land to the very same development company
that was refusing to finish the Cartron Bay Estate. Residents objected
vociferously and the last meeting of the previous council reversed the
decision to sell land to the company. Strange dealings on the previous
corporation indeed.
At Monday's special meeting, councillors invited the residents in to
explain the situation. It was to be a deputation, but Councillor Seán
MacManus suggested that all the residents who had come to the Corporation
meeting to protest should be invited in. They were. After Martin Feeney,
spokesperson for the residents, had addressed the meeting, Arthur Gibbons,
newly elected councillor from the area, proposed that the councillors might
like to see the real nature of the problem by watching a video he had made.
They did.
The councillors were horrified and unanimously supported a resolution
calling on the council to perform the work, and everyone was happy until
Joe Carter, the Corporation legal adviser, said that the corporation
couldn't do the work until after the court case was over. The case, which
has been going on for over a decade, was postponed yet again two weeks ago,
until a date in October.
d after all is said and done, the council does not have the money anyway
for these repairs. The suggestion that the corporation might take out a
15-year loan was rejected out of hand.
``A pyrrhic victory, so it was on Monday'', says Arthur, ``but we haven't
finished yet. We can't go on like this. The estate is virtually
inaccessible as it is. How would emergency services gain access? The fact
that the corporation appears powerless is not a solution for those of us
who live here,'' says Arthur.
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