Concerns grow in Tipperary over new public lighting as councillors demand answers
Two local councillors have criticised the council’s response to concerns over newly installed public lighting in Cashel, describing it as “not good enough.”
The issue centres around new LED lights that have been installed in the town, with businesses and residents raising concerns about safety as a result of the new lights.
At the February meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, independent councillor Liam Browne tabled a motion calling on the council to review the new lights that have recently been installed in Cashel.
Cllr Browne said at the meeting that he wasn’t happy with the response from the council.
"I’m not happy with the response,” he said.
"I sent in a motion asking for some very detailed information, and the response is ‘further to email correspondence from Cllr Declan Burgess, the matter has been sent to the roads team’. I haven’t seen that email correspondence, I don’t know what exactly they’ve said in the response, but I asked very specific questions.
"Until I see that email response, I don’t know if my motion has been addressed,” Cllr Browne said.
Fine Gael councillor Declan Burgess said that he sent the council a letter from businesses in Cashel town with their concerns about the new public lighting, but that it didn’t refer to Cllr Browne’s motion at all.
"At no time did the letter reference Cllr Browne’s motion at all, because to be honest, the motion is kind of redundant because I raised it two months previously, calling for a review, Kieran Malone (executive roads engineer) was present in the chamber at the time and agreed to carry out the review,” Cllr Burgess said.
"We’ve been getting a lot of concerns about the street lighting and the level of dissatisfaction that there is amongst the businesspeople and residents on the Main Street.
"The review that I got back from the lighting section was carried out by KLS and Arup, and they’ve checked the town centre public lighting and found that only one light, located outside the former Bank of Ireland was lower than the required standard,” Cllr Burgess explained.
Despite the report’s findings, both councillors said complaints from businesses and residents suggest the issue has not been resolved.
“There is no other suggestions in the design that additional lights are needed on the Main Street, or any changes to the actual brightness of the new LED lighting, which, we would agree, isn’t good enough because there is an obvious decline in standard, particularly in the Main Street,” Cllr Burgess said.
Cllr Browne said that if a review was carried out, the findings should have been circulated to all the councillors in the district, not just to one.
"If that review has been done, if the information is available, why wasn’t it made available to everybody?” he asked.
In reply to the Cashel-based councillors, district administrator Anselm McGowan said that the review of lighting levels is still ongoing.
"I am aware that the review isn’t finished, that was an interim response on the actual, physical infrastructure that was there.
"The detailed level of your notice of motion was sent on to supplement the query that came in from Cllr Burgess,” Mr McGowan said.
The council has not indicated when the full review will be completed.