The draft Ballinasloe Town Enhancement Plan goes on public display today (Friday ) amid some concern from a local business representative group at their lack of input into the plan.
The proposed works under the town enhancement plan include road resurfacing and realignment, new paving for footpaths, traffic calming measures, new public lighting and signage, and improvements to pedestrian crossings. It also features proposals for the redesign of parking bays, the placing underground of cables, and the addition of street furniture and planting of trees.
The news that the plan is going on display today comes in the wake of the refusal of the Ballinasloe Business Alliance to accept an invitation from the town council to inspect the plan yesterday (Thursday ) morning before it went on display.
Speaking yesterday on behalf of the Ballinasloe Business Alliance, Maired Barry said the group were disappointed that they had not been give the opportunity to have any input into the plan.
“There is frustration as we didn’t get a chance to have our say. We had requested a meeting with the architect, town council executive, and town clerk, but only got an invite to a meeting this morning. We wanted a chance, as rate payers who are funding this, to see it before it went out to the public and to have some input,” she said.
However, Ballinasloe town clerk Mark O’Donnell explained that when councillors first examined the plan in July they had a number of concerns surrounding the number of on-street parking spaces, the number of trees in the scheme, and the width of roadways, which have been taken into account in the current draft — these were “largely the same as the concerns of the business alliance”, he said.
Mr O’Donnell added that it had been made clear to the group that if they had further suggestions they would have to come in the form of submissions to the plan.
“We revised the drawings and met the members on Tuesday, and all nine agreed to put the plan on public display. We met with the business alliance several times and invited them to a meeting this morning and they declined our offer,” he said.
The Ballinasloe Business Alliance represents more than 70 businesses in the town.
The draft Ballinasloe Town Enhancement Plan is available for inspection at the Ballinasloe Town Council Civic Offices from today until Friday September 16, and also on www.ballinasloe.ie Ballinasloe Town Council will hold an information session in the civic offices next Thursday August 11 from 3pm to 7.30pm.
