Notice of Motions May 2017 Meeting of Leitrim County Council
Notice of Motions in the name of Cllr Sinead Guckian
At the May meeting of Leitrim County Council I will I ask the Chief Executive if Aura Leisure are in breach of their Management Licence, with the recently proposed price increases, for community clubs using the Carrick-on-Shannon facility and also, with the proposed reduction in allocated hours for community groups.
REPLY FROM THE DIRECTOR OF SERVICES:
The matter of access to the Aura Leisure Centre for swimming clubs was raised at the last Carrick on Shannon Municipal District Meeting. A meeting has been held by Leitrim County Council with the senior management of Aura, the centre operation company. Aura has reassured Leitrim County Council that their primary aim is to deliver a fair and equitable allocation of available hours for swim clubs across their current swim club customers. Rates for swim clubs are effectively pool hire rates and are outside of the Licence provision whereby the Council is to be consulted on admission fees. Following feedback and subsequent meetings with the Carrick Fins club the proposed rate increases were reduced and phased over a longer period of time. The rate charged to Carrick Fins is currently a historically low rate and the operator is of the view that it is unsustainable and not equitable. The revised rates being proposed, with all clubs paying the same, are seen as reasonable on a regional basis. The operator advises that the Connaught Development Officer of Swim Ireland concurs with this view. Adjustments in method of operation by the club in order to maximise their use of the dedicated lanes would also provide for lower costs while another local club who has to avail of hours in Sligo due to the limited availability of hours at Aura could be accommodated. In conclusion the operator agreed to extend the deadline on Carrick Fins to the end of the week ie 5th May.
RESPONDING TO THE REPLY
Cllr Sinead Guckian sought clarity as to whether the reply was stating, yes or no, in response to her question. The Director of Services advised that the answer was “no” Aura were not in breach of any part of their contract, following their decision to review the hours and costs for voluntary groups.
Notice of Motions May 2017 Meeting of Carrick on Shannon Municipal District Meeting
Notice of Motions in the name of Cllr Sinead Guckian
At the May meeting of Carrick on Shannon Municipal District I will ask the Senior Engineer to investigate the possibility of providing traffic calming measure on the Church Road ( Church View Rd) Leitrim Village, to reduce the speed of traffic entering the village on this road. Currently most vehicles are not reducing their speed until they reach the church
REPLY FROM THE DIRECTOR OF SERVICES:
Speed enforcement on the public road is under the charge of the Garda and we will advise them of your concern at the next monthly Garda meeting. The local community have applied for funding through the town and village scheme this year to construct a footway with public lighting linking the village with Lock No. 16. If the application is successful we will endeavour to place a ramped uncontrolled crossing which will encourage speed reduction at this point.
RESPONDING TO THE REPLY
Cllr Sinead Guckian advised the meeting she had raised concerns previously with the Gardai with regard to speeding, particularly in villages throughout the county, she outlined that the joint policing committee were developing a pilot project to be rolled out in conjunction with community groups, to create more awareness of the problem and the dangers.
Cllr Sinead Guckian welcomed the potential to resolve the issue, with the provision of funding under the “towns and villages” Scheme this year, as it it a great project by the community but she sought a commitment from the Area engineer that if this project was unsuccessful, that he would place this issue back on his programme of works with a view to resolving same.
She welcomed the support of others members and the commitment of the Area Engineer to agree to her request.