A decision on the route of the controversial Tullamore bypass has been deferred until September, due to the huge number of public submissions received by Offaly County Council.
Last month, the council was forced to drop plans to route the bypass through part of Charleville Wood, due to environmental concerns. A compromise route was proposed but that too has become controversial.
Residents in the Mucklagh area, south-west of Tullamore, are objecting to the new route which will bypass their village. They argue that it will cut through good arable land, take trade away from the village and inconvenience residents. "You will have to go through two roundabouts and on to a motorway to go the two-and-a-half mile journey into Tullamore," said local farmer Mr Billy Foster.
He estimated that the proposed road would pass 30 metres from his home. "There will be a roundabout in front of my home. Lorries will be slowing down and taking off right by my window. One of my fields will be cut in two." No one can make sense of the new route, according to Mr Sean Curley, Mucklagh Residents' Association. "There's total opposition to it. We just can't understand it. It shows no consideration for the people of Mucklagh. Instead, it's going to turn our area into a concrete jungle."
Mr Foster said the new route would affect people walking into Tullamore. "You often see people walking into the town but how will they be able to get around two roundabouts and a motorway?"
In September, it will be three years since the council first mooted plans for the Tullamore bypass. Mr William Wall, county engineer, said the council understood that people needed time to study the plans and make their views known. "No matter where it goes, there will be people who will not be happy," he said. "Thousands of people are happy with the new route. But we cannot push something through without hearing people's views first. That's not democracy. We deferred the decision to give people more time to do this."
But Mucklagh residents are adamant the compromise route will not go ahead. "We won't let this go," Mr Foster said. "I'm all for wildlife but people should come first, and then accommodate the wildlife."
Landowners' difficulties with road-building projects were further highlighted this week when more than 700 people attended two meetings in Abbeyleix and Mullingar. The Abbeyleix meeting, organised by the Farmers' Journal, looked at the possibility of forming a national lobby group, while landowners at the IFA-convened meeting in Mullingar said they would not let council officials on to their land until compensation was sorted out.
