Mayor of Letterkenny Ciaran Brogan has warned that councillors could fill deep potholes themselves unless urgent action is taken on a road in Letterkenny town centre.
The cratered Port Link Business Park Road off the Joe Bonnar Road serves the Good and New charity shop, several businesses and an IPAS centre with up to 370 residents.
The road has fallen into such a state that motorists are mounting the footpaths to avoid the potholes, the council heard today.
The road is privately owned, meaning it is not currently under the charge of Donegal County Council.
Cllr Gerry McMonagle raised the issue at today’s Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District meeting, pointing out that the road is used daily by residents of the IPAS centre, as well as buses, school buses, businesses and people accessing the Good and New cancer charity shop, which provides a bus service for patients travelling to and from Galway.
“Just as you turn off the Joe Bonnar Road there are multiple potholes that are 4-5 inches deep,” Cllr McMonagle said.
“Motorists have taken to driving on the footpath to go around the potholes.”
Port Link Business Park Road in Letterkenny. Photo: Donegal Daily
Cllr McMonagle said the road is clearly of public utility because of the services it provides access to.
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“This is a road where multiple planning permissions were granted, that people are using on a daily basis,” he said.
“It’s clearly a public road. What we need is for the road to be repaired and brought up to standard.
“The least we could do initially is to fill the potholes and give space to negotiate and take the road in charge if that is what is required.”
Mayor Brogan said he had visited the road with council staff a few weeks ago and saw a school bus trying to offload children.
“The council should, where they can, immediately repair what is there as a matter of urgency,” Cllr Brogan said.
“Whatever is needed, the council needs to take action on this.”
Councillors were told that the road is under private ownership, but that taking the road in charge can be considered under council policy.
Under that policy, the council would normally require the landowner to dedicate the road in writing as a public right of way before the declaration process begins.
The council said it will not declare a road public simply to remove the maintenance burden from individuals. The local authority may consider whether the road is widely used by the public and whether support can be provided for works or improvements, subject to funding being available in the annual budget.
Cllr McMonagle said it would be incumbent on the council to look at taking the road in charge because of the amenities it services, but added that this would take time.
He said the immediate concern was repairing the potholes to allow safe access to the services on the road, adding that upwards of 160 children a day are travelling in and out by bus.
Mayor Brogan added, “We’ll fill them ourselves if we have to. I cannot stress the importance of it. It’s not that big a job.”