‘Runway of North Tipp’

Ballingarry remains only village on N52 without traffic-calming

Residents of Ballingarry are becoming increasingly frustrated about speeding through their village, which they maintain is the only settlement on the entire Nenagh-Dundalk N52 that does not have a modern traffic-calming system.

Having long campaigned for a series of improvement works in Ballingarry, the residents believe that their small village on the edge of Tipperary is being ignored. A local focus group cited information from a speed survey recently undertaken by Tipperary Co Council, which indicated “speeds consistently in excess of the posted speed limit”.

“Ballingarry has become the ‘unofficial runway of North Tipperary’, not alone for cars but also for commercial and agri vehicles,” members of the focus group claimed in a statement this week. “This information has been passed onto the gardaí for their consideration. The focus group also accessed the data following a request under the Freedom of Information Act and it noted that HGVs were the worst offenders of speeding through the village.

“There are grave concerns within the community that a serious accident is imminent.”

The focus group is a subcommittee of Ballingarry Tidy Towns. It was formed following a public meeting in the village earlier this year, after which group representatives met with executive members of the council.

In its statement this week, the Ballingarry group said the “council's hands are tied” in that the N52 falls under the remit of Transport Infrastructure Ireland. While appreciating TII's own funding issues, the group was of the view that “Ballingarry is not a priority for TII due to its low population; however, Ballingarry is a priority for its residents.

“It would seem that there is no appetite/funding within TII for an overall plan to upgrade Ballingarry's infrastructure to the spec of the neighbouring villages on the same route.

“This is extremely disappointing for residents and locals. It seems the best we can hope to achieve is piecemeal works requiring separate approvals each time from TII.”

WORKS STARTING NEXT MONTH

The council has made two applications to TII in relation to repairing a 150m length of footpath and installing street lights between the Glue Pot pub and Brú na Sí housing estate. Local residents have been informed that works to the footpath from the Aglish road junction to the Garda station have been approved and are scheduled to start in August. They are expected to take three weeks. Additional information has been requested in relation to the lighting application.

"We sincerely hope that TII will be positively receptive to current and further applications for upgrades to the village," the group stated. Its members wanted to highlight the lack of lighting in Ballingarry compared to neighbouring villages, stating that theirs has 11 street lights whereas the next village, Carrig, has 44 over a similar distance.

"It's worth noting that Ballingarry has a public house and a housing estate, and currently the walkway between them is completely unlit," the group added.

A spokesperson for TII said the authority is aware of the situation in Ballingarry and has been in contact with the council and Dept of Transport about it. Further discussions would be taking place, but a long-term solution would depend on the availability of funding.

BUS STOP

The residents also discussed at their meeting with the council the "urgent need for an official bus stop" in Ballingarry. They described the current situation as a "safety hazard" and said many people are unaware that there is an official bus stop in the village because there is no signage.

The residents welcomed that Tipperary Co Council has since their meeting engaged in discussions with the Active Travel investment programme with a view to remedying this situation.

"We were appreciative of the time given to us by the council reps. They were very forthright with their information and very understanding of our concerns, and we have agreed to keep lines of communication open," the focus group members stated.