Councillor labels overgrown patch of planting in Carrick-on-Suir a 'jungle'

An overgrown patch of planting along the N24 in Carrick-on-Suir town centre has deeply annoyed one of the town’s councillors who has described it as being “like a bloody jungle”.

Sinn Féin Cllr David Dunne lambasted the wild state of the roadside island at the end of Kickham Street at Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District’s July meeting.

“Please don’t come back to me and say it’s wild planting. We have lots of fields for that,” he said adding that it looked “disgusting” and was “taking down the tone” of the recent upgrade works carried out on the N24 in the town.

It was one of a number of snag list type problems with the recently revamped N24 Cllr Dunne highlighted with Council management at the district meeting.

The €6.8m Carrick-on-Suir Pavement Scheme upgraded 3.2km of the N24 running through Carrick-on-Suir town stretching from its outskirts on the Clonmel Road to the far end of the Pill Road at Tybroughney.

The project included a range of new safety measures, the laying of a new road surface and landscaping.

Cllr Dunne stressed that overall the upgrade works carried out on the N24 were top class but he expressed frustration at the delay in fixing a number of minor issues that have arisen.

Apart from the overgrown planting at the bottom of Kickham Street, he highlighted problems with ponding of water after heavy rainfall around speed tables on the N24 at Cláirín and Lissadell.

Cllr Dunne asked Council management was there a budget and staffing in place to maintain the new planting schemes along the N24.

In relation to the overgrown planting at the end of Kickham St., District Engineer Denis Power said he would have a look at it and see if the planting could be changed. On the other problems highlighted by Cllr Dunne, the District Engineer stressed he was in constant contact with the N24 Carrick Pavement Scheme’s contractor about outstanding issues and there was a list of works the contractor had to come back to fix.

Cllr Dunne asked how many times these issues had to be reported before they were done? Mr Power promised to contact the contractor again about getting the issues resolved.