A percentage of students at a West Clare primary school are unable to walk or cycle to school due to the absence of a footpath.
Private land will have to be acquired if a footpath is to be constructed from the junction of L6088-0 and Moyasta National School, Council engineers have advised. This area covers 120m on the N67 which is a national secondary road.
Senior engineer, Alan Kennelly flagged that a double continuous white line is present on this part of the N67 which is under a 60km/h speed limit. “There is not space available to construct a footpath between the existing road boundary and the carriageway edge so some private land will be required”. No contact has taken place between the private landowner and Clare County Council.
Construction of a footpath was sought by Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) at the June meeting of the West Clare Municipal District. He claimed that “the land required is available to carry out the work” and highlighted “it is only a very short distance”. Pupils walk to school on Wednesdays in an attempt to win a Green Flag, Keating outlined. “Owners of the land are willing to give us the land,” he emphasised.
With regard to the ‘walk on Wednesday’, Cllr Roisin Garvey (GP) stated, “Only people on one side of the road can walk, you feel so bad because the lack of a footpath means children on side of the road can’t walk to school”. She added, “There is no commuter belt on those secondary or tertiary roads so I strongly support the motion”.
