This article is from page 19 of the 2014-04-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
THE three years stalemate on one of the county’s most dangerous road junctions is set to end with the development of Blakes Corner in Ennistymon set to be “kick-started” in the coming weeks, it was confirmed at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council.
The local authority confirmed yesterday that consultants have been appointed to undertake the long awaited Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Blakes Corner in Ennistymon and work is set to get underway soon. A total of € 120,000 has also been made available by the National Roads Authority (NRA) to fund the survey, which is expected to begin in a matter of weeks.
The building at Linnane’s and Blake’s are at the centre of a longrunning dispute involving Clare County Council, the NRA and local conservation group Saver Ennistymon’s Heritage.
Plans to demolish the buildings and rebuild their facade a few metres back from their current location, in the process making way for a new road layout, are being opposed by Save Ennistymon’s Heritage.
Progress on the proposed new road junction has been stalled since 2011, with Clare County Council deciding not to progress to the planning stage until funding for an EIS has been made available.
“The fact that an allocation [from the NRA] has been made available to kick start the planning and design process to deal with the ongoing traffic problems in the vicinity of Blake’s Corner is welcome and is a very important step towards achieving the desired objective,” said a council spokesperson.
Clare County Council and the NRA propose building a roundabout at Blake’s Corner to prevent ongoing traffic difficulties in the area and to make the roadway safe. Save Ennistymon’s Heritage would like the local authority to examine other possibilities – such as bypassing Ennistymon.
In recent weeks Clare County Council have commenced repair works on the two listed building – the first works to be carried out on the buildings since they were acquired by the local authority.
This works includes include roof repairs and external painting, with an amount of damaged being done to the building during the recent storms.
A number of windows in both buildings were broken during recent storms and it is understood that a number of skylights in Linnane’s have also been broken, allowing rainwater to flow into the interior of the building.