*Photograph: John O’Neill
DEVELOPMENT OF up to 260 homes could be built in Ennis by getting ‘The Road to Nowhere’ on the map.
An inner relief road linking the Gort Rd and Tulla Rd in Ennis would take between five to eight years to get to completion. “The overall scheme would cost in the region of €10-15m at current market rates,” senior engineer with Clare County Council, Cyril Feeney explained.
In a joint motion before this week’s sitting of the County Council, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF), Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) and Cllr Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF) stressed the importance of getting The Road to Nowhere on track.
They cited “the growing difficulty in delivering new housing developments due to existing traffic congestion and inadequate road infrastructure on the eastern side of Ennis. The increasing pressure on the Tulla Rd, Gort Rd, Roslevan and adjoining residential area arising from significant population growth. The view of local builders that the absence of this critical link road is now a major constraint on the sustainable expansion of Ennis and the concern that further delays in progressing this project will negatively impact housing delivery, investment and economic development in the county town”.
Feeney in response advised that the inner relief road is included in a proposal in the completed Ennis local transport plan which forms part of the proposed variation to the County Development Plan. There are five stages required to advance the project, they are proposal initiation, strategic assessment and preliminary business case, detailed and final business case and implementation.
With the proposed route adjacent to the Ballyalla Lough Special Protection Area (SPA) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) which encompasses Lough Girroga, Feeney cautioned that “this may constrain the engineering design options for the proposed route. An indicative timeline for the delivery of the overall project in such a sensitive area with favourable timely decisions would be of the order of five to eight years. However, other options under consideration for a phased delivery of the project, i.e. potentially the section north of the Maples towards Cluain Ros Leamhan as phase one, followed by the section to the west which would include the railway crossing. Subject to funding approval phase one could be potentially delivered in a three to five year period”.
Housing activation officer, Sinead O’Donoghue confirmed that the project was not eligible for the first call as a submission for the €1bn housing infrastructure investment fund. She flagged that the proposed road would form part of the local road network “and as such another source of funding would potentially be from the Department of Transport. The original proposal for this road was that it was to be developer led and we will continue to engage with interested parties, including landowners to explore all funding mechanisms”. The County Council is to include the project in its strategic roads plan “which in turn will be an important component in informing our investment plan. It is our intention to hold a briefing with the members later in March to review the strategic roads plan priorities”.
Time is of the essence, Cllr Colleran Molloy stressed when pointing out she last raised the matter six months ago with little progress recorded in the interval. Last June, she sought a meeting with the Department of Transport to bring about some progress.
Land must be opened up for housing, Cllr O’Callaghan highlighted, “We’re trying to open up land to create housing. Back in 2018 when the road was finished, locally this became known as the road to nowhere, it is fascinating that road was completed to a certain area and then stops”. He said it is 7.5 hectares of zoned land that could provide up to 260 homes and declared he was already looking forward to “seeing the ribbon cut” when it is completed.
According to Cllr Baker Bashua, “the need is urgent and not just optional. Anyone who travels Tulla, Gort or Roslevan roads at peak times can see the demand, the road infrastructure has not kept pace with the expansion of the areas”. The absence of the link road is “becoming a major constraint” for developers, she warned. “At a time when we’re asked to accelerate housing delivery, we cannot ignore the infrastructural needs. We are in a housing crisis and we want to see the continued growth of our county town so we need to start progressing this project now and treat it as a priority. We’re calling for clarity, urgency and prioritisation, we need a clear pathway for the project to move forward”.
Activity on the Gort Rd Industrial Estate and Ballymaley Business Park is putting the Gort Rd under “serious traffic pressure,” Cllr Pat Daly (FF) commented. “Between 3-4pm every day is a blockage, there is a huge backlog to Ballyalla Cross. We have five times the traffic coming in Roslevan since motorway was built on the Tulla Rd, both roads crying out for an inner relief road. It is vital for Ennis”.
There has been no progress on the road since 2018 when phase one, comprising a 520m road link from the Gort Road to the Clare Technology Park, was officially opened. The road had laid idle for up to eight years prior to this with €4m spent on the project. From the beginning of the existing built road which ends at the Clare Technology Park is in part Council ownership.
