Delays to Athboy and Moynalty sewerage plans

ARCHAEOLOGICAL finds in Athboy and Moynalty have slowed down works on their new sewerage schemes, senior engineer David Keyes told the October meeting of Kells area council. The Athboy find was on the main access road and Moynalty"s on a side road, with both sites sterilised pending excavations. Works had resumed in Kilmainhamwood on the Kingscourt Road, after the Whitewood Road works were completed, he said. That would require closing the road until 12th December when works would begin on the Moynalty Road, set to continue until March, when individual connnections would be put in prior to the permanent restoration of the road, which takes place late next summer. The Moynalty line had been put down from St Mary"s Villas to the treatment plant, which required the closure of the Salford Road, where works would take a further 20 days, said Mr Keyes. Works would then move to the pumping station and village centre, before starting on the Mullagh Road (set to start in December) and continue into January, for which trial holes have been dug. Every effort would be made to allow weekend opening of that road, he told Cllr Eugene Cassidy. Bringing the rising main to St Mary"s Villas and the other from Bellair would take three more weeks. However, the suggested under-grounding of wires, which the Tidy Towns sought, would require further talks with the contractor, who was currently ahead of schedule on that scheme. The six houses near the Borora and the pumping station presented quite a difficulty and these had not been part of the original contract and the consulting engineer was examining this and it would be resolved, he said. Councillors John Farrelly and Bryan Reilly urged the inclusion of the six houses be expedited. Area manager Brendan McGrath told them he was 'fairly confident' these would be included. The Ráth Cairn works were currently concentrated on the Mitchelstown Road and a permanent dressing would be given to it early in the summer, said Mr Keyes. Work on the rising main at the Hill of Ward was practically complete but the spur section at Eighty Eight Acres had to be tested. Works there were 96 per cent complete, but the cul de sac beside Ráth Cairn church had to be taken up, as it was in such poor condition. Works on Frayne Road, Athboy, were virtually completed with current works based from the church car park towards the Cloran and Kildalkey roads, said Mr Keyes. There would be tunneling under the main N51 road for the Kildalkey road line, while heavy traffic and the very restricted site near the new estate on the Delvin Road might require the remaining works there to be done at night. The contractor was ahead of schedule, Mr Keyes told Cllr Farrelly, who said lorries had almost come into houses on the Frayne road during works. There had been pollutants detected in the Athboy network and the council welcomed the help of the public in identifying where this came from. Cllr Michael Gallagher said he was very disappointed by works at the Hill of Ward and the Ráth Cairn cul-de-sac, where cars had suffered damage. Mr Keyes said the roads would be surface dressed next summer and he would draw the contractor"s attention to any reports of a 'drop-down' gap between temporary road surfaces and the original levels. The council had paid everything owing to the contractor but he was aware of a local matter involving a sub-contractor. The projects in the four centres would be completed over 24 months, the engineer added.