Cut Longford hedges to ‘make roads safer’ for pedestrians and drivers

A Fine Gael representative has called on the local authority to place a newspaper advert and a social media advert to remind landowners that it is hedge cutting season again as some areas are 'very dangerous'.

Fine Gael Cllr Colin Dalton outlined his concerns at the recent meeting of Granard Municipal District as he said it was important to make the roads safer for pedestrians and drivers.

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He said there has been great improvement in terms of hedge cutting, however, he stated some roads and areas are very poor in terms of visibility and it is the landowners responsibility.

"We have worked and we have compromised with landowners in bad areas and in fairness they have supported it and there were some hedges cut over the weekend in the Granard Municipal District area where it was very dangerous."

Cllr Dalton stressed it is important for them as local representatives to 'push' this in the local area.

"Every weekend we have pedestrians out walking with their high-vis jackets on and it's very important that our hedges and our ditches are kept neat and tidy and I hope there will be a strong message on this through our social media and our adverts in the paper to make the roads safer.”

The motion was seconded by his party colleague Cllr Pádraig McNamara who strongly supported it.

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Executive engineer Joe Gorman read a response for the local authority area engineer and he stated the paper advert and social media reminder had already been placed in early-September and a second reminder will be issued around Christmas.

He said, in addition, the Granard Municipal District staff have issued numerous hedge cutting notices to landowners in the last month or so requesting them to cut their overgrown hedges.