Community upkeep plan in Battery Heights praised

Athlone councillor Aengus O'Rourke has praised the progress made by a community initiative in Battery Heights which, he said, had greatly improved the appearance of the estate.

"Two years ago, with no community scheme in place in Battery Heights to manage and maintain the estate, the appearance of the area and the general environment became a problem. People understandably turned to me for ideas and action, and with their help I was happy to get to work on a solution," he said.

"Now, two years on, we have an exceptional solution in place, and I'm glad to say, it is working extremely well. We have a new four-man environmental team in place, working under the Tús (community work placement) programme, supported by the residents' association."

The Fianna Fáil councillor said he wanted to sincerely thank Michael Toohey, the Tús cordinator, Linda Jo Quinn from Westmeath Community Development, and Pat Nally, District Engineer, for their support with the initiative.

"The residents' association deserve great praise also for their work and determination to find solution. There are acres of grass to be cut in Battery Heights, verge trimming, weed control, general litter control etc.. it is a huge undertaking, but now all of this is brilliantly managed by our Tús team.

"I have never seen the estate looking as well or presented as well as it is today. John Daly, in the Grotto View end of the estate, also does Trojan work keeping that area in great shape.

"Securing money to install containers, buy equipment and setting the programme up was the most challenging part of the process but we got there in the end and I am delighted everything has turned out so well.

"I continue to work closely with the environmental team and the residents' association. We have a number of new initiatives in the pipeline, for example we plan to plant a community orchard and develop an array of community allotments in 2022.

"Finally, I want to also thank Ger Lacey and Joanne Naughton from Youth Work Ireland Midlands for their support and assistance over the past two years.

"Most importantly I want to acknowledge the hard work of the Tús environmental workers themselves - they have been amazing to work with and on behalf of the entire Battery Heights community I want to say a big thank you to them," Cllr O'Rourke concluded.