|
[Press Release: November 28th, 2005] Greens call on council to properly grit Bray roads and footpaths in frosty weatherGreen Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, has called on Bray Town Council to properly grit Bray roads and footpaths in frosty weather.Cllr de Burca made her call after a week of very cold weather during which she claims she received a number of complaints about the council's failure to grit roads and footpaths in the town. Cllr de Burca who is the Chairperson of Bray Town Council says that she raised this issue with the Town Engineer of Bray Town Council. "I was told by the Town Engineer that the gritting machine for the town is broken at the moment" says de Burca. "This is very unfortunate as the cold weather at the moment is making many of the footpaths and roads in the town quite treacherous". Cllr de Burca says she is particularly concerned about the failure of the council to grit the footpaths at the Dargle bridge, next to little Bray. "Constituents have told me about a number of people who fell at the bridge last week during the very cold weather" says de Burca. "One of these people was a pregnant woman with a child and the other was an elderly lady. I was asked whether the council is still gritting roads and footpaths as people are under the impression that they are no longer doing so". Councillor de Burca says that the council must continue to grit the dangerous roads and footpaths in the town during cold weather if it wants to avoid serious compensation claims being made by residents of the town. "I am also very concerned about the many elderly residents who live in the Little Bray area and who are afraid to go out in cold weather because of the risk of breaking hips etc," says de Burca. The Green Party councillor says that the ascent/descent to and from the town to Little Bray is particularly treacherous in bad weather, especially at the point of the bridge. "The junction between the bridge and the Lower Dargle is one of the busiest intersections in the town, both for vehicular and pedestrian traffic, yet there's no traffic lights there" says de Burca. "And now it's left in icy weather without being gritted for as many people as it takes to hit the headlines to get hurt before something is done". The Green Party councillor says she has asked Bray Town Council to immediately repair the gritting machine and to draw up a list of priority dangerous spots in the town that require gritting in cold weather, including Bray Bridge.
For further information please contact: |