Speed ramp removal causing concern for Bettystown residents

Castlemartin locals fear someone could be seriously hurt and want permanent traffic calming solution

Concerned residents in Bettystown say they are “terrified” that a child will be killed or seriously injured after speed ramps were removed from a busy housing estate and are calling for Meath County Council to urgently reintroduce speed calming measures.

According to residents in Castlemartin, temporary speed ramps that were installed by the property developer when the estate was built and had been damaged over time leaving them unfit for purpose were removed by council workers in recent days.

A more permanent solution is on the way says a local councillor but residents want assurance that action will be taken soon.

Castlemartin Close resident Owen Connolly says the issue has been going on for too long with the buck being passed on who is actually responsible and with young families and a childcare facility nearby a solution needs to be found fast.

“We are now left with no traffic calming measures at all and cars flying through the estate. A local councillor said Meath Council would be replacing them as soon as possible but anytime between now and what they call as soon as possible a child could be killed.

Although the ramps needed to be removed, residents say they want a timeframe from the council as to when permanent speed calming measures will come into play.

“When they started building those areas in the last year or two, Seoid Na Tra and Cois Na Mara and when they were finishing off Dun Eimear they started getting damaged, trucks were going over them and knocking them out of place.

“Over the last couple of months, residents had been complaining about the ramps because they were broken, and they got into really bad condition that cars weren’t slowing down they were going in between them.

“Residents made a number of attempts to contact the council over the last few months but nothing was done about it until we discovered that council workers had removed the ramps completely.

“The reason that they took them up had nothing to do with the safety of kids, it was because a couple of cars were damaged going over them.”

Another resident commented:

“Residents have been on to the council asking them to be maintained or replaced.

“The sooner they put something in place to calm the traffic the better.

“The longer this goes on that there is nothing to replace the ramps you are looking at a child getting hurt.”

Fine Gael councillor Sharon Tolan said: “The ramps were put in initially by the developer, so they were historically there when the estate was taken in charge.

“They were in really bad condition and were removed for safety reasons. We have plans in place to put in proper speed tables using tarmacadam rather than those drilled-in measures that had to be removed and they will be installed in the coming weeks.”

Meath County Council has been contacted for comment.