elphin local area plan 2009 - 2015 - Roscommon County Council

Chapter 4: Infrastructure and Services
Junior School Wardens on Bishop Street
Subject to consultation with the relevant parties, there is a need to designate and regularise parking
arrangements for school and public bus services.
During the Public Consultation phase for the Plan concern was expressed in relation to the need for
additional car and coach parking outside Elphin Community College, as there has been an increase in the
number of pupils attending the school and the area is becoming congested and dangerous. The school has
expanded in recent years however the extensions never addressed parking or drop off requirements.
Roscommon County Council is not responsible for providing parking or set-down areas for, but would
clearly wish to assist the school where possible in this matter. There may be space for a bus bay outside
the school, provided cars refrained from parking on the footpath (there is a public car park within
approximately 70m); alternatively, the bus could use the adjacent public car park to pull safely off the
regional road to set-down/pick-up students. A new footpath will be provided from the car park to the
school. The Roads and Transportation Strategy at the end of this section aims to develop a safer, more
efficient and integrated transport system, with improvements to the road network and availability of
vehicle parking, over the lifetime of the Plan.
Subject to availability of appropriate funding, there is scope for improvement to the public lighting
system. Desired improvements include the addition of new lights, under-grounding of service wires/cables
in the town centre and the segregation of public lighting from electricity power supply poles. Due to the
cost associated with under-grounding of services, for example, these are likely to be longer term
objectives.
During the Public Consultation phase for the Plan concern was also expressed in relation to a number of
road areas such as; the hill along the St. Patrick’s Church area, Chapel Street, the R368, and outside
Abbeycarton National School, which can all become hazardous during hard frost. There is serious concern
for road safety in these areas and it is considered that they should be gritted during hard frost. RCC
receives funding from the NRA (National Roads Authority) to grit national roads. This funding cannot be
used to grit the roads outlined above, as they are non-national roads. As no funding is provided to grit
these regional/local roads in the County, gritting of such roads does not occur at present. However, as
outlined above, the Roads and Transportation Strategy for Elphin aims to develop a safer transport system,
with improvements to the road network and other forms of transport networks.
Future Development
Significant lands are available for future development in the immediate vicinity of the town centre.
However, congested town centre locations are not considered to be desirable access points for
development of these lands (the associated negative impacts on traffic flow are not justified).
Elphin Local Area Plan 2009-2015 Page 20