Upkeep of small rural roads and laneways raised at recent Trim Municipal District Council

Issues around two roads schemes for the upkeep of small rural roads and laneways were raised at the recent meeting of Trim Municipal District Council.

During a discussion on the Community Involvement Scheme (CIS) and Local Improvement Scheme (LIS), where a percentage contribution is made by the householders on the lane towards the cost of upgrading the laneway, councillors highlighted that people who have built houses on laneways have already made contributions to the upkeep of roads of part of their planning permission and don't want to pay again, while issues around affordability for householders, particularly older people, were also raised.

Cllr Padraig Coffey brought it up saying: "With LIS schemes the costs have gone up so much that even the percentage is too much for some people to pay. In some cases you were dealing with a person who is after building a new house on a lane already giving a big contribution and are not willing to pay it. Then the original five or six houses on the lane will pay it because they are more established or can afford it, so the system is slightly broken."

He asked if anything could be done to correct it.

Cllr Coffey also highlighted another case where the householder was embarrased as they couldn't afford to pay the percentage contribution, and in another case they didn't even want to put their name down on a form saying they had done it all before with previous councillors and were still waiting.

Cllr Ronan Moore said issues can arise where if there are ten houses on a road and nine are willing to pay and the other doesn't. He said he could understand where there is a relatively new house and they have already paid significant contributions they may not want to pay again and asked if there could be an exemption for those who had built a house in the last two years that if a CIS or LIS comes up on the lane that they would not have to pay it as they had already contributed to the pot.

Cllr Joe Fox pointed out that the two schemes are funded by different departments and that while the LIS list is reasonably ok, he said there is a problem with the CIS. However, he said they were excellent schemes and he would be reluctant to change them saying once the work is done, it is done for 30 years.

It was also pointed out that there is a criteria laid down nationally that local authorities have to abide by.

"With the CIS, the contribution is 10 per cent and in my experience is most people if they get the lane included they are delighted. The biggest problem is we need more funding to get more lanes done quicker," said Cllr Fox.

Cllr Noel French accepted that LIS and CIS are necesseary but said he did not like the schemes."Between development levies, property tax, and motor tax, I think the least people deserve out the country is a reasonable quality of road."

Cllr Dave Boyne agreed saying: "People are paying enough, the government should be funding these roads. "

- Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme