The discussions concerning a playground for Tyrrellspass got a little closer to a conclusion recently with the news that the county council will recommend a particular site by March at the latest.
This came to light following a question from Cllr Colm Arthur at the council’s bi-monthly Kilbeggan Area meeting enquiring as to the current status of this issue.
The meeting was told that a number of sites around the village had been considered over the last year and a half since the Tyrrellspass Amenity Group began actively lobbying for this.
“Having considered all the issues that have been raised, and having examined all of the sites, the Executive propose to place an item on the agenda of the next Area committee meeting recommending the playground be provided on a particular site,” said Barry Lennon for the council.
“If the members support this, or decide to select an alternative site, the council can proceed to provide the playground,” he said.
This meeting has been provisionally scheduled for March 8, which will give the Amenity Group plenty of time to progress the project.
“I am happy with this response,”said Cllr Arthur.
“I was very anxious we made a move on this before the end of the year when the LEADER funding dries up,” he pointed out.
He was referring to rural development funding for such projects which will help co-fund the €150,000 project, but which comes to a conclusion by the end of 2013.
Since 2007 Westmeath County Council has assisted in the development of 25 playgrounds around the county with money raised from the sale of old cowparks.
“We have to make a decision and give the playground committee an option. There’s no reason why we can’t have it done by the summer,” said Cllr Arthur, and he was promptly given cross-party support by Cllr Gerry Corcoran, and Cllr Paul Daly.
On another local issue, Cllr Arthur had earlier enquired when the council had planned to replace the length of fencing that had been damaged behind the village’s bottle bank after it was burnt by vandals on the night of January 3.
Three out of the four bottle banks were destroyed, and have since been replaced, but the council is holding on a decision to replace the fencing to await clarification from its insurers.
“There’s been a lot of Tidy Towns money spent on this,” pointed out Cllr Arthur.
