Both the towns of Claremorris and Ballinrobe will offer free parking in the middle of the towns in the coming weeks as part of a three month trial. The county councillors from the areas had been lobbying Mayo County Council for some time now to get some free parking spaces in the towns, to help boost the economy in the south Mayo towns.
The new pay and display bye laws will see free car parking available at all times in the Mount Street car park in Claremorris and the Family Centre car park in Ballinrobe. The minimum stay for parking on the streets in both towns will go down from 60 minutes to 40 minutes and the cost will go down from 30 cent to 20 cent per hour. There are also a number of free short term parking bays that will be located in four different areas in Ballinrobe under the plan unanimously adopted by the elected members of the Claremorris Electoral Area Committee this week.
“While it’s not exactly what we wanted I still welcome the news, these things have financial implications for the council which we understand,” Cllr Michael Burke told the meeting. “I’d like to see this come into action as soon as possible.”
Cllr Patsy O’Brien told the meeting that the councillors and officials had spent a lot of time to come up with these changes, and he also thanked the members of the public who made submissions on the issue. Independent councillor Richard Finn welcomed the news and said he was glad that they had been adopted on a trial basis, as if changes need to be made to the plan they can be made at the end of the three months which would give plenty of time to see how the plan was working.
