Athlone Town Council has revealed plans to provide nine short-term parking spaces outside the Social Welfare offices on Grace Park Road.
Parking has been an issue ever since the Athlone offices relocated to the current site in September 2009. With no official parking spaces available, clients and visitors have been parking on the roadside outside the offices, which has led to safety concerns in an area with a high volume of passing traffic.
The nine new spaces will be subject to a half hour time limit.
Town engineer Alan Kelly said the cost of creating the spaces, along with associated traffic calming works, would be around €30,000, which would be funded from parking levies.
Councillors said the move would be of huge benefit to those who use the services.
“I propose we go ahead and alleviate the problems, this would prevent accidents,” said Cllr Jim Henson at last week’s town council meeting.
There was some concern that the spaces would be taken up by other motorists, such as those collecting children from nearby schools; however Mr Kelly said it was impossible to prioritise the spaces for particular users and it was agreed that peak times for the offices and schools would not clash. The plans were proposed by Cllr Henson and seconded by mayor Sheila Buckley Byrne.
