Wexford town roadworks pushed into 2026 as new senior engineer given time to finalise plans

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Road enhancement works in two parts of Wexford town have been pushed into 2026 so that the district’s new engineer can assess their respective merits and finalise design plans. Initially scheduled to commence at Easter of this year, the upgrades at St Aidan’s Crescent will see a new car park installed as well as improved pathways and road surfaces and were due to be funded by the discretionary budget allocated to the Wexford Borough District’s (WBD) seven councillors.

However, those works now look set to be usurped by a project in Kennedy Park which will also be funded by the councillors’ discretionary budget.

“I would favour the Kennedy Park works to be done first over St Aidan’s Crescent,” said Councillor Tom Forde at the October meeting of the WBD. “I’m happy to put my entire discretionary fund into that project, but we need to come to an agreement on this; I understand they both need to be addressed.”

With this discussion having gone round the houses on a number of previous occasions, Cllr Biddy Walsh was the first, and perhaps not the last, to admit she was losing track of where things stood.

“This has become so confusing, in a previous email sent in April of this year we were told that the works at Kennedy Park were to start in Easter this year and then they were put off until the autumn, and now they’re not happening until next year,” she noted. “We were also told the works at St Aidan’s Crescent weren’t going ahead because of the supermarket being so busy during the Easter break but now they seem to have been put off indefinitely.

"Can we get some clarity on what’s happening next?”

Having only just been appointed to the role of senior engineer for the WBD, Lar Lett could have been forgiven for sharing in the confusion but he offered an explanation as to why the works had not yet taken place.

“We poured extensive resources into the Fleadh and that has impacted on our roads programme,” he said. “I will need to go to Kennedy Park and see what’s required and between now and the end of the year I’ll see exactly what needs to be done, but you certainly will see people being mobilised up there soon.”

The clarity councillors were seeking had yet to materialise however.

“We still don’t know what works are going ahead, and when,” said Cllr Forde. “Is just one definitely going ahead or are they both going to be done in 2026?”

“We would be requesting that both are done next year,” said cathaoirleach Cllr Garry Laffan.

Ultimately, with Mr Lett still finding his feet in his new role, councillors agreed that he should be given time to analyse the projects further and return in the November meeting with a definite plan and timeline for both.