Throwing light on Ballingarry
Lack of public lighting in a north Tipperary village situated on one of the busiest traffic routes in the State is putting the local community and those who travel through the village in grave jeopardy, local councillors have warned.
The dire need for extra street lighting in Ballingarry was raised at the December meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District authority by Cllr Ger Darcy, who put down a motion calling for the existing lights in the village to be upgraded and for extra lights to erected in places where there were none at present.
District Administrator Rosemary Joyce said Tipperary County Council had plans to replace old street lights in the village with more energy efficient LED lights.
Ms Joyce said the council has also made an application to the roads authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), to instal lights from the Glue Pot Pub in the village to the southern edge. Providing lighting in this section was under the remit of the TII.
Cllr Darcy said the existing street lights in the village were “pretty awful” and there were a number of gaps in the village were public lighting was non-existent.
“I didn't really appreciate how poor the lighting was in Ballingarry until I recently went down there in the dark of night.
“There's a large section in the housing estate on the Borrisokane end of the village that has no lights and a section on the other side of the village were there are no lights either, even though it leads up to the community centre and GAA pitch.”
FOOTPATHS ARE POOR
Cllr Darcy said the footpaths were also in a poor state, meaning it was hazardous for people to walk on them in the poor light.
“I welcome the fact that the council is going to replace existing lighting with LED lighting, but this is now a matter of urgency and we need to get cracking on this and put the pressure on the TII to get extra lights.”
Cllr Darcy said he was looking forward to plans for a traffic calming scheme to be rolled out in the village, but stressed that the introduction of the new lights could not wait until that happened. Situated on the N52, Ballingarry was on one of the busiest routes in the country.
Cllr Michael O' Meara supported, saying the TII seemed to be washing its hands in respect of the works that were badly needed. “It's now time for us to get the gloves off in relation to Ballingarry because we need a proper traffic calming scheme and new lights because the traffic going through the village is absolutely horrendous.”
Council Director Marcus O' Connor said the existing old sodium lights in the village would be replaced by the council as part of the local authority's €7m plan to roll out new energy efficient LED lights throughout the county.
He said the council planned to commission the ESB to carry out a survey to come up with a cost of providing new lighting in areas of the village that were under the remit of the TII. When that was completed an application would be made to the TII for funding for additional lighting.
Cllr O' Meara said the urgent job would have been executed by now if the council was in charge of the areas where there were no lights.
Cllr Joe Hannigan said it was terrible the TII was “holding the whole thing to ransom”.