One-way system could be introduced soon in Laois town
There have been talks of a one–way system through Durrow for many years
A Laois town could be adopting a one-way system in the near future as Laois County Council have been given the go ahead to progress with planning.
The long-awaited Durrow one-way system has been approved to move on to the next stage by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
TII approved for Laois County Council to publish a Part VIII proposal for the one-way system through the town of Durrow. Although this does not equate to any commitment to fund the one-way system once it is agreed upon.
The proposals will be published in the coming weeks and views will be sought from the general public and prescribed statutory bodies.
Chief Executive of Laois County Council, Michael Rainey, said he was pleased to see progress with the one-way system and acknowledged “this has been a long time coming.”
Local councillor Ollie Clooney also welcomed the update at the recent meeting of Laois County Council.
“It’s great news here. We warmly welcome it. It’s very important with the increased traffic and the complaints that I’m getting. It’s absolutely brilliant,” Cllr Clooney told the council.
The Durrow councillor noted that currently people trying to access shops on the N77 through the town are being “inconvenienced” when trying to park there given the volume of traffic.
“It inconveniences people using the chemist and they can’t get out of their car there. It’s a great day for anyone with a disability. They can park there now without having traffic coming from Kilkenny or elsewhere.”
Director of Services at Laois County Council, Simon Walton, explained that the agreement from TII means that the council can now progress through the consultation process.
He estimated that the council will publish a notice of their intention to commence the consultation process by the end of June. This process extends for a six-week period.
Once the council reviews all the submissions, further reports will be required to go before the members of Laois County Council.
“The next key milestone for the one-way system would be to have a Part VIII planning consent in place for the development and that will hopefully open up avenues for funding programmes to deliver the scheme thereafter,” Mr Walton said.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme