Residents of Ballybar and Linkardstown are so worried that open ground near the new bridges off the N9 will attract an encampment, that they have written to the National Roads Authority to make sure it doesn’t.
In a letter seen by Carlow First, Cllr Jim Townsend, who has jurisdiction for the area, asked the National Roads Authority to consider placing a natural barrier on the open ground to halt any unwanted visitors camping in the area.
In the letter, Cllr Townsend says the Borris Fair on August 15 often attracts people who set up camps around the county for a week before the fair and stay afterwards.
The camps are often left littered and disturbed, not to mention creating a serious eye-sore for the homeowners in the area.
The residents of Ballybar and Linkardstown are frightened that the open ground near the two overbridges of the N9, would be an ideal place for a camp to be set up and they would be left with the clearing up to do.
The stretch of the road concerned falls under the jurisdiction of the NRA and not the local council.
“Having seen the excellent work carried out at Powerstown, the Linkardstown and Ballybar residents have asked me to request that the same work be undertaken in order to prevent a reoccurrence of what happened at Powerstown,” said Cllr Townsend in his letter to the NRA.
Already Senior Roads Engineer for Carlow, Liam Fitzgerald has come on board to support the idea.
“We need to do something before they come to the Borris Fair and see this as a grand place to set up camp,” Cllr Townsend told Carlow First.
At the time of going to press, the NRA had not gotten back to the residents with any plan to erect a natural barrier on the open ground.
Illegal trespassing is a huge problem in villages and townlands around Carlow county, especially when a festival attracts a large crowd to the county.
Just last month, an encampment on open ground at Powerstown was forced to move on by an agent of the National Roads Authority.
The encampment, consisting of travellers from Limerick, was forced to vacate the ground because they were trespassing on a part of the N9 not yet open to the public.
They were moved on by NRA construction contractors Ascon, who are still working on the road.
Within a week following the departure of the travellers, a natural embankment of topsoil laid across the open ground was constructed.
Residents in Ballybar and Linkardstown are hopeful that the NRA will take a similar stance with anyone trying to camp along the N9 in their area.
