Call to extend road sweeping to housing estates in Meath
Calls to extend road sweeping to housing estates in Meath have been made to maintain cleaner streets and support the work of local volunteers, but the council has cited “operational” limits.
At the October meeting of Meath County Council, Independent councillor Noel French proposed expanding the road sweeping programme to include residential housing estates and to offer flexible dates for towns to accommodate one-off events such as festivals.
“This initiative would greatly enhance the excellent work being undertaken locally by Tidy Town Groups and Residents’ Associations across the County,” Cllr French said.
“We need to give better services for those who pay the Local Property Tax…I regularly get asked about street sweeping in residential estates,” he added.
Reflecting on progress in recent years, Cllr French said: “While the area engineer does a very good job in ensuring that all the towns and villages are swept, I would like it noted that it was only ten years ago that only three towns, Trim, Navan and Kells, were swept on a regular basis as these had Town Councils and none of the outlying towns and villages were swept.”
"It is now ten years later and I think it is time for another increase in the areas swept.”
He also expressed concern over timing, saying: “While the Municipal District engineers do a good job of allocating sweepers to the towns and villages, it has happened on at least two occasions in recent years that allocation of the tender has been seriously delayed into the middle of the year rather than in the spring of the year.”
“I regularly get requests for a sweep of the streets of towns and villages which tie in with the judging of the Tidy Towns, Pride of Place, or after a major community event. And these cannot be carried out because we have a tender for so many sweeps a year,” he said.
“I am not being critical of the works carried out by the council. It is very good, but I want us to aspire to better and my motion asks for better.”
In its response, the council said the deployment of road sweepers is an “operational matter” for the Municipal District Engineers.
“Where feasible, and not conflicting with programmed work, efforts to accommodate one-off events will be made once timely notice of the event is given to the MD Engineer,” the council added.
“There are a significant number of housing estates in charge across all six MDs. Introducing housing estates to the programme would negatively impact the extensive and regular programme of sweeping across urban areas and public spaces.”
Ultimately, it was agreed that the issue would be discussed as part of the upcoming budget discussions.