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Salt depot planned for Ennis outskirts

This article is from page 2 of the 2011-11-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG

CLARE County Council has announced plans to develop a 6,500tonne salt depot on the outskirts of Ennis.

The council is proposing to build a road maintenance depot for the region at Tulla Road, Ennis (old GAMA site), adjacent to Junction 13 of the N18 Motorway with access from the R352 Tulla Road from Ennis.

According to the council, the development will include offices, a storage area and workshop, car parking, salt barns, depot, weighbridge, hard standing area, ESB sub-station, refu- eling bay and an access road directly from the R352 road.

The development will also encompass ancillary services such as water supply, foul treatment, surface water collection, bounding and landscaping around the site, the diversion, protection and provision of utilities and construction of boundary treatments, accommodation works and fencing at required locations.

It is anticipated that the depot will be run by the National Roads Authority. The proposal was first revealed by County Engineer Tom Tiernan in September.

At the time, Mr Tiernan said the council’s winter maintenance pro- gramme would aim to cover 706km of the county’s road network in the event of severe freezing temperatures.

The council has put in place a winter service plan for national primary, national secondary and strategic regional roads. Mr Tiernan explained that priority will be given to the motorway, followed by national primary, national secondary and strategic regional routes.

That programme includes plans to further expand the council’s Beechpark depot to ensure that 3500 tonnes of salt are available in Clare over the winter period.

The council has spent € 1.1 million on winter maintenance during the past two years.

Local councillors have been critical of the NRA’s plans, saying they represented a duplication of services.

An ice detection and prediction system, ICENET, in conjunction with thermal mapping linked to weather stations in Crusheen M18, Kilrush N68, Lisdoonvarna N67 and Ogonnelloe R463, facilitates Clare County Council in its decision-making process regarding whether or when scheduled routes should be treated.

Submissions or observations with respect to the proposed Tulla Road development may be made in writing up to and including December 23.

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