Announcement of the Preferred Route - M7/M8 Portlaoise to Castletown, Portlaoise to Cullahill |
The intention of the Local Authorities and the National Roads Authority is to have people preoccupied with land acquisition and CPO’s rather than the need for the road |
September 20th 2001 - The announcement took place in a private meeting between the Consulting Engineers ARUP and Laois County Council of the preferred route for this Tolled Motorway Scheme. The elected members were invited, of which seven attended the meeting. Members of the public were not invited nor allowed to attend the meeting despite being affected. Letters of invitation were posted and received by affected landowners on the same day inviting people to meet with the Consultants at an appointed time the following week. Maps of affected property were not included in these letters so people potentially affected still had no information despite the fact that this information was in the public arena through elected representatives. The reality was that people who were in no way affected by the proposals were privy to the information days and in some case eighteen days before those directly affected. Laois County Council made a conscious decision at a Technical Steering Committee meeting not to forward the maps to those affected. The advice received by the committee was that under no circumstances should any individual meet with the consultants on their own without prior knowledge of the purpose of the meeting and that people should meet collectively and with advisors present to have meaningful dialogue. A public meeting was held on Saturday 22nd with a very large attendance. People who received the letters from Laois County Council were generally very shocked and of the belief that this announcement of the route was in fact final. The meeting endeavoured to allay people’s real fears and to remind them that the route is not finalised until after the Oral Hearing. The importance of groups sticking together was stressed with the general consensus from the floor agreeing with this. The intention of the Local Authorities and the National Roads Authority is to have people preoccupied with land acquisition and CPO’s rather than the need for the road and examining every aspect of the project to ensure all is done correctly and that the road is selected for all the right reasons. It was agreed that people would not attend the meetings with the consultants and wrote letters to that affect. Furthermore, people completed non-cooperation forms again, withdrawing cooperation from the Council and their agents, in light of the fact that serious concerns have been raised by the group and still remain unanswered. Monday September 24th Letter sent to Laois County Council from solicitors requesting group meeting. Meetings held in local hotel from 2.30pm until 6.30pm. Members of the committee were present throughout the five days to advise people who had not been present at the previous public meeting and to outline the reasons again as to why co-operation at this stage was withdrawn. As a result approximately 10 appointments were kept out of a total of 150 landowners. At no stage was anyone told not to attend the meetings but rather advised of the situation. A further public meeting was held on Friday 28th where it was agreed that all affected landowners would present themselves at the County hall at 2’o’clock on Monday to receive their maps. A petition was signed and a letter drawn up with all names and addresses which was handed into County Hall on Monday morning at 10am. RTE were contacted and were prepared to televise the events that evening (it was an advantage that they were coming to televise the victorious return of the Laois Ladies football team!) All maps were distributed between 2pm and 4.30pm (with a few hiccups!)
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| Copyright © 2001 Campaign for Sensible Transport (CaST) |