Residents of Laois estate terrified a child will be knocked down

Residents at a Laois estate are ‘terrified’ a child could be knocked down due to speeding traffic, a recent meeting was told. 

Fianna Fail Cllr Paschal McEvoy asked in a motion “that Laois County Council put traffic calming measures and signage in place at Oakvale Meadows, Stradbally”.

Cllr McEvoy said the estate had 72 houses and there were “an awful, awful amount of kids in it” but motorists were driving through the estate at ‘dangerous’ speeds. 

In a written response to the motion, Senior Executive Engineer, Tom Drennan said, “Laois County Council is currently drafting a guidance document on the selection and implementation of Traffic Calming Measures and was due to go before Laois County Councils Strategic Policy Committee(SPC) for roads for their review with a view adopting this as a policy.

In the interim the area office will schedule to have a technical assessment carried out but will await the outcome of the updated guidelines and policy on this before making a final determination on this.” 

Cllr McEvoy expressed concern about the length of time the Council process  would take. He suggested interim safety measures in the meantime due to the danger posed to children. 

“The speed people are coming into it now is just dangerous”, said Cllr McEvoy. 

“People are terrified a child is going to be knocked down there”, he told the meeting of Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District. 

Independent Cllr Aidan Mullins said he couldn’t understand why new houses aren’t required to have necessary road safety layouts and signage in order to get planning permission. He said the onus should be placed on the developer when they seek planning. 

Cllr Mullins cited an estate on the Ballymorris Road in Portarlington he said was built 200 or 300 metres from the nearest footpath. He said the developer should have been responsible for the footpath. 

Independent Cllr Aisling Moran agreed with Cllr Mullins and said it was something that should be considered at the planning stage. 

The motion was seconded by Fine Gael Cllr Vivienne Phelan.