Call on Council to ensure plants don’t encroach onto footpaths

Overgrowth from private houses is causing havoc for the elderly and wheelchair users who are being forced from footpaths onto roads to overcome bushes that are growing out of control.

Several residents have contacted the Galway City Tribune about the abnormal growth this summer which is prompting bushes and trees into overdrive.

They are calling on Galway City Council to pursue the owners through the property register to ensure paths and roads are kept clear to avoid endangering the lives of pedestrians.

One homeowner in Renmore said in their estate they had paid for a complete list of property owners and were able to write to landowners to request the proper upkeep of the houses.

However, while such overgrowth was unsightly, it becomes a health and safety issue when it impacted on footpaths, which were under the control of the local authority.

“We’ve solved a lot of our own problems in this estate but these bushes and trees are growing wild all over the city. I got off the bus in Shantalla the other day and there was this huge bush as solid as a rock at least halfway onto the path,” she exclaimed.

“I was thinking of my neighbour who uses a roller to get around. She wouldn’t have been able to get past without having to lift it onto the road and back again and she’s just not able to do that. If somebody is blind they’d walk straight into it and get knocked over. Why don’t the Council take responsibility?”

Another homeowner asked if the council could pursue property owners for derelict buildings, why they were not inclined to do so for out-of-control gardens.

“The property register puts a different light on it all. They now have the knowledge of who owns what – and if they don’t they should be pursuing them for not registering the properties.  There should be a tighter oversight on this as it greatly impacts on the most vulnerable as well as all neighbours.”

A spokesman for Galway City Council said it is the responsibility of tenants and property owners to upkeep their own homes so that it did not detract from the amenity of the area.

“In situations like this, community wardens are on occasion made aware of a failure to maintain properties and if it’s very bad an informal process can be started whereby the landowner can be approached about cleaning up their properties,” he stated.

A similar situation in Belmont Park on the Dublin Road where overgrown grass in an adjacent field was blindsiding motorists was recently highlighted by the Galway City Tribune.

In that case tall weed vegetation was growing at a bend in the road, reducing the entrance road at times to one lane which had caused at least two near collisions.

Following the publicity and an approach from the Council, the grass was promptly cut by the owner.