Ballinasloe won’t tolerate rates hike while ‘Big Dig’ is on

Galway County Council has been warned that any attempt to increase the rates for Ballinasloe businesses will be sternly resisted – not least because of disruption caused by ongoing works on €5 million Town Enhancement Scheme.

The rates set by the old Ballinasloe Town Council have been traditionally lower than the rest of the county – only now the local authority is planning to bring them into line with other towns around the county.

But Cllr Michael Finnerty has warned that they cannot be increased as the dig is set to last for at least another year.

“It is tough enough for businesses to survive in the current circumstances but any additional financial burden could be crippling,” Cllr Finnerty added.

The Council are prohibited from raising the rates in other towns until Ballinasloe is brought into line with the rest of the county.

Meanwhile, Senior Resident Engineer on the project Kieran McAlary confirmed that the works that are currently taking place in and around the town centre will be suspended on Friday week, December 7 in the run up to Christmas.

Mr McAlary said that all of the streets will be open to traffic including the roundabout, where works are currently concentrated, which have been completed. Works will recommence on January 7.

Works began on the Town Enhancement Scheme at the end of June at St Michael’s Square and they then moved to Dunlo Street and these have now been completed.

It has now moved to sections of Main Street but a lot of the works are concentrated around the roundabout where the contractors had to dig down to a depth of four metres.

Mr McAlary said that this was always going to be the slowest section as it is where all of the underground services converge. He said that the whole project is expected to be completed by early 2020 as planned when the town centre will have received a total facelift.

The overall project includes the provision of approximately 2.5km of surface water sewers, approximately 1.6km of water main and the complete enhancement of Dunlo Street, Main Street and Society Street in Ballinasloe town centre.

It will also include the under-grounding of overhead cables, the provision of ducting for fibre optic broadband while new footpaths and paving will be laid in and around the town centre along with new street furniture.

SIAC Construction Ltd is the main contractor working on behalf of Galway County Council to deliver this project.