Unless the issue of overhanging trees is dealt with there could be a serious accident on the roads in Mayo, a councillor said this week, during a debate on a new hedge cutting policy for the county.
Independent councillor Johno O'Malley was speaking at the Roads Strategic Policy Committee (SPC ) of Mayo County Council this week where he told of a recent incident that happened him.
He said: "I was bringing in another load of straw, went down the road - when I landed down where I was stopping, the fella who was with me went up on top and there was three bales of straw missing and a big lump of a tree hanging out of the side of the truck.
"We went back up the road and there were bits of trees down along the road, we moved them off the road and got a sweat up doing it I can tell you.
"The bales were on the road, but I talked to a woman who was out with a child in the car and she said ‘did you get the bales?’ I said I did and she said ‘that’s great, there was no one hurt, but that bale came down in front of me’. Jesus, if it ever landed on a car, it could have done awful damage, she was fine about it and said things happen - but the point is if we don’t cut those trees, something will happen.
"We are going to get storms, let's face it, but I’ll tell you I’d hate to go down the road in my area the day after a storm because I just hope that nobody will get killed because there are trees hanging straight across the road. Why don’t the council be more proactive and go out and if they want to come with me I’ll show them those roads and they’ll know they are not safe."
The issue of who is responsible for cutting hedges and trees was raised and council management pointed out that the landowners are responsible for cutting trees and hedges on their land and that is covered by national roads legislation. Director of services for Mayo County Council, Tom Gilligan told the meeting: "Just to say, the policy we are looking at, there are a number of acts; the roadside act does outline the responsibility of landowners - it is not emanating from this policy, that is not going to change - that is important to note; what we are trying to do in relation to the policy is to bring a degree of consistency across the Municipal Districts."
Head of roads for the council, Paul Dolan, while agreeing that the issue of overarching trees needs to be addressed, said: "It is not farmers, it is landowners we are talking about - the roads act is the law whether we like it or not, the roads act obliges the land owners that any trees do not obstruct or interfere with public roads or footpaths" and "it is somewhat unfair that some land owners cut those hedges and others wait for the public purse to cut their hedges; there is an inequity there and we need to realise it."
Cllr O'Malley said that when the Local Property Tax rates are revised later this year, people are going to ask what are they getting for their money in rural areas, saying: "I’ll just say that the policy you are trying to adopt and that farmers be responsible for their hedges won’t go down well after November.
"There is going to be a new household charge, the houses will be revalued and they are going to be paying more and they are going to say to you and me - what am I getting for paying more for my household charge? I can’t get my hedges trimmed, I’m told I’m responsible for it, I can’t get the trees cut, because I am told I have to cut them.
"Now I think that if this is going to happen - the people won’t go for it; we can’t tell the people they have to trim the hedges along the road or cut the trees, the council are going to have to come up with the money for that and it is not fair on the people and they won’t take it on board - they won’t do it, why should they? What do they get out of it? What does a person out in the rural area get for the household charge? They have no footpaths, no streetlights, no sewerage, they have to provide that themselves and they pay for their water - they are getting nothing for their household charge. I’ll tell ya, you’ll have a fight on your hands if you think the farmers/landowners are going to pay for hedges along public roads."
After a lengthy discussion on the topic, the members of Mayo County Council's Roads Strategic Policy Committee (SPC ) deferred the adoption of a new Hedge Cutting Policy for the county until the next meeting of the committee, with Independent Councillor Seamus Weir telling the meeting that he had put €10,000 of the notice of motion allocation he got into getting hedges cut in his area, despite the councillors approving a budget of €400,000 for the work this year in their annual budget.
