Hospital entry ‘a disaster’, warns Clon councillor

THE entry and exit point to Clonakilty Community Hospital is a disaster, according to Independent Cllr Paul Hayes.

The councillor raised that issue, and many more, at a recent meeting of the West Cork Municipal District.

He asked Council officials to write to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to request an improved pedestrian crossing, road resurfacing and markings, as well as improvements to the design and operation of roundabouts and junctions along the N71 bypass road in Clonakilty, as well as access to the hospital.

‘A lot of issues have come up over the last few years,’ said Cllr Hayes. ‘At the eastern side of town, the entry and exit to Clonakilty Hospital, was meant to have been realigned but it hasn’t been done.’

He complained about issues with the resurfacing of the roundabout at Faxsbridge saying: ‘There are massive craters and we are getting flak for it.

‘This is the N71, a national primary route, so we can’t act on it. The work has to be done by TII.’

The councillor said directional signs are missing from the route too, while, further along, near the whale’s tail sculpture and the medical centre, there is a need for a pedestrian crossing.

‘At the moment,’ he said, ‘it’s hit and miss. People are walking across the road hoping motorists will stop.

‘Adjacent to it is a roundabout that was only ever meant to be temporary,’ said Cllr Hayes. ‘There has been a lot of development in the area, including a new Aldi store, as well as hundreds of new houses at The Miles.

‘They are all coming down to a triangle-shaped junction and it’s just not working.’

Further along the N71, at Park Road and Fairfield Terrace, he said, there is another problem that could be resolved by relocating an existing pedestrian crossing to a more centralised location. According to Cllr Hayes, it is the elderly residents in that area who have asked for it to be moved.

The councillor was told that Council engineers had written to TII about these issues and the reply back was that they are doing a study and will be looking at all of these issues.

Cllr Hayes asked for something ‘more concrete’.