Westmeath County Council has no funding to carry out repairs on cul de sacs, in spite of a number of pleas from councillors this week.
Cllr Johnny Penrose was frustrated that the council could not repair road number 59102 at Ballymaglevy, Williamstown, asking “How can I go back to the people and tell them that?”
“Will the potholes at least be repaired? There are five houses there, these people are paying to use the roads,” he added.
However, director of services David Hogan said the council simply does not have a budget to repair cul de sacs.
“It’s a challenge we have... we do not have the funding - I’m sorry,” said Mr Hogan.
“We are prioritising pothole repair on county roads, and cul de sacs would be bottom priority as they are not through roads. We are trying to manage our extensive road network as efficiently as possible. I totally sympathise with people living in cul de sacs.”
Cllr Avril Whitney also asked the council to consider repairing potholes on the L59201 near Rathowen.
Deputy Penrose pointed out that as it stands, locals are not free to take matters into their own hands.
“I understand and I don’t want to harp on about it, but it’s a council road, which gives no one permission to fill a pothole bar the local authority - if anyone else fills them they will be held accountable,” he said.
Mr Hogan suggested that one option would be for cul de sacs to be delisted, so that residents could apply for funding to have them repaired.
“We need to look at how we are going to maintain these roads - the only way is with the involvement of the local community,” he added, agreeing to put together a list of all the county’s cul de sacs and to look into the matter further.
