Have your say on new Athlone to Ballymahon road

A public consultation on the proposed N55 Athlone to Ballymahon road project will be held today in Tubberclair.

Westmeath County Council is holding the public consultation to obtain people's views and comments on the proposed scheme.

The study area takes in a wide band either side of the existing N55 from Cornamaddy to Ballymahon and extends as far out as Annaghgortagh, Corr, Cross, Rath, Kilkenny West, Lurgan, Ballynakill Upper and Portaneena.

The public consultation will be held in Tubberclair Community Centre today between 2pm and 8pm and the public is invited to call in and make their views known.

Local councillor Tom Farrell (FG) has urged all people living in the area to attend the public consultation and has said it is important that people are involved from the very beginning.

“Everyone in the community should go and look at it. All planning permissions in that area will be put on hold until such a time as a decision is made on the route,” he said. “Everyone in the area should go and meet the people involved so they will be able to see the townlands involved.”

“It's important that people understand what is happening. People should be involved from the start,” he added.

Cllr Farrell said people should go down and meet the engineers and added: “There's a lot of hearsay so they're better off getting a briefing from the engineers.”

“They will be able to show them the area that is defined, although not the routes. It will show the area where it may go and show the extent of the area. They have said they'll come back in a year to a year and a half with a preferred route. It could affect young farmers as well in applying for grants so it's very important that everyone has a clear picture,” said Cllr Farrell.

He added that everyone was in agreement that something needed to be done with the N55 and there had been a number of crashes on the road over the years.

“Safety has to be the number one priority,” he said.