Work begins on new €5 million Ratoath relief road
Meath County Council has officially started work on the €5 million Ratoath Outer Relief Road, with a sod-turning ceremony yesterday (Monday).
The new road will serve not only as an important piece of local transportation infrastructure but also helps to open up zoned lands for development. In particular, the new road will facilitate urgently required housing development and has been designed to the highest standard. It will include junctions, footpaths, cycle-tracks, public lighting, service duct provision, water and waste water services, boundary treatment, accommodation works and landscaping.
The objective is that all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, will have a safe passage when the road is completed within the next twelve months.
The road is being constructed under an agreement between Meath County Council and Sherwood Homes (Ratoath) Ltd and has been funded by the Council and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government using the LIHAF Programme (Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund). A condition of the LIHAF funding is that a certain number of the homes built will be affordable and social homes, with 52 such units in total expected from this development.
Speaking at the sod turning, Minister Regina Doherty noted that this project “demonstrates clear delivery of the Government’s objective on housing. There are no easy solutions but putting in place enabling infrastructure such as this is key. Not only will it realise a dividend in terms of future housing supply locally, it will also provide benefits for the wider community.”
This message was echoed by Cllr Maria Murphy, cathaoirleach of Ratoath Municipal District who highlighted “the significant construction that has already happened in the area with the first phase of 131 houses due to be completed by the end of 2019 and the planning process is under way for an additional 200 houses in subsequent phases.”
Minister Damien English was also present for the official start of the works and welcomed the use of the LIHAF funding for such an important local road. He underlined that “Meath County Council has been set ambitious targets for the delivery of housing units this year and this development is one of many which will help realise, and hopefully exceed, this target.”