Navan estate residents complain about neglected roads and ‘giant potholes’

Residents of the Leighsbridge Estate on the Commons Road in Navan have warned of the dangers of the entrance to their estate, which they say is riddled with potholes.

“The road from the Commons Road into the estate and Watters Lane is in a terrible condition,” says Gordon McNally of the Residents Committee.

“It is full of the biggest potholes. They get filled in but are as bad as ever a short time later. It is like a patchwork quit.

“We were one of the first to move into the estate in 2001, but nothing has been done on it in the last 20 years, except to cut it up for work on services, or patching up potholes.”

Mr McNally said there is a lot of traffic on the road. There are 30 houses in our estate and more on the laneway. There are two football pitches and a HSE facility and we all use what is a short piece of road.

“It needs a complete resurfacing and some kind of ramps or traffic calming because you get people speeding in places along it.”

Mr McNally said there was also an issue with people parking along the lane on days when there are football matches.

“Residents are concerned because when they are parked on the lane, emergency services like the fire brigade or ambulances would not be able to access the area.

“There are times when the potholes are huge, then they are patched up, but it isn't a permanent solution. It needs to be resurfaced,” he said.

“Nothing has been done on that road for the past 20 years and it has been cut up numerous times for the installation of various services.

The issue was raised at a recent meeting of Navan Municipal Council.

Cllr Eddie Fennessy called on the Executive to assess the estate for inclusion on the 2026 Road Resurfacing Scheme.

He was told resurfacing work in housing estates is delivered through the roadworks programme and the list for Navan has already been prepared by the MD Engineer for 2025.

“However, the MD Engineer will inspect Leighsbridge Estate/Watters Lane on the Commons Road and depending on the work required may add it to the list of works. Should it be added to the list then the scheme will be progressed as soon as reasonably practicable depending on available resources.”

Cllr Fennessy said the Watters Lane/Leighsbridge area is quite busy in terms of traffic and footfall.

“There are up to one hundred residential properties in the locality, who between them make a sizeable contribution to the Local Property Tax coffers. A local youth soccer facility is also located at the end of the road, which makes it quite busy.

“Local residents asked me to help them to lobby for repair works which was the basis for my motion to the Municipal District Council. I thank the council for their response and my colleagues for supporting the motion. I’m hopeful the road will be included on next year’s resurface schedule.”