It has become perfectly obvious that urban city planning ideas are now being mandatory enforced on rural, agricultural towns like Thurles, Co. Tipperary with disastrous consequences, forcing trading retail businesses to either close or fold their tents to move elsewhere.
Anyone who visited Dublin City recently will know that only public transport, cyclists and pedestrians can now get into and around its increasingly menacing streets, with any degree of efficiently.
The busy prosperous Liberty Square of the 1960’s.
That is all well and good in Dublin with its network of buses, trams and taxis. Here in rural Thurles such public transport is very limited. There isn’t a Dart tram line to be found running from rural Upperchurch or indeed Two-mile-Borris or Littleton villages every 15 minutes. Indeed there is not one single bus shelter to be found in Thurles, to protect a prospective bus passenger from our inclement weather.
For those who wish to view what exactly will be forced on the residents and businesses of this once prosperous midland town, take a look here: N62-Slievenamon-Road-Phase-2.pdf
NOTE Page 6 of the above pdf: “Some of the key interventions that this strategy will deliver include significant investment in the provision of safe, segregated infrastructure to protect those walking and cycling on our roads, and initiatives to promote modal shift from motor vehicle travel to support environmental, safety and health objectives.”
The picturesque Liberty Square, midday in 2023, asks a Question: Where are the town centre consumers; where are the cyclists; the walker, and the vehicle parking spaces. Answer: Driven out with the businesses. Gone to support German international discount retailers on the outskirts of Thurles, who offer very little local employment, while selling a considerable amount of German processed produce.
See also what is planned in the Draft Discussion maps for Slievenamon Road, shown here: N62-Slievenamon-Road-Map.pdf.
Question: Where are the Cycle Paths either on a half upgraded Liberty Square, town centre or on this newly designed, still to be revamped, Slievenamon Road plan? Answer: Non existent.
This October 2022 plan will most certainly drive home that final nail in our town centre’s coffin. However, the local electorate, (now remaining surprisingly silent), can express their anger, during local elections, expected to be held possible next March.
Although the weather has been extremely cold here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary over the past week, it has remained extremely dry with very little rain.
We therefore took the opportunity to photograph two x 22.86 centimetre (9in) deep giant potholes or craters; call them what you will, currently available to view on the Mill Road, in Thurles, which we first highlighted on April 20th, 2023; again on October 15th, 2023 and more recently on November 24th, 2023 at high tide.
One crater on Mill Road, Thurles, unattended since before April 20th, 2023.
Today, again we photographed same, at low tide, in an effort to warn the public of the dangers when travelling on the Mill Road, with the craters existing just 600 meters (0.373mls) from the residence of one local Councillor.
Second crater on Mill Road, Thurles, unattended since before April 20th, 2023.
Since April last, yet another local town Councillor has been calling to local residents on this same Mill Road, canvassing for road frontage to enable the installation of a footpath and has failed to notice this piece of roadway sliding into the Drish river.
Dear Sir, Thank you for your e-mail regarding ” Road or path defects “ I have forwarded your e-mail to the Thurles District Office for their attention and direct reply to you. Should you wish to follow up on this case, please contact Customer Service Desk quoting reference number T-233557-V8T6. Regards, Customer Service Desk, Tipperary County Council.
The Mill Road, over the past two years, as our readers will attest, has become the preferred route for increased car and heavy duty vehicles, same anxious to avoid Thurles town centre, because of major traffic delays caused by the recent upgrading of half of the Liberty Square town centre area.
Evidence of vehicle tyre tracks on our half updated, expanded, footpaths on Liberty Square, Thurles, as vehicles attempt to find a non-existent parking or set down space.
Picture above indicates that some of our Thurles traffic have already begun to avoid our lack of town centre parking spaces and now park on our overextended footpaths. It is this lack of set down spaces, which has driven most of our town centre traders, out of the Thurles town centre.
Last few remaining traders will certainly move out of Thurles town centre, if the Munster Hotel car park, situated on the junction of Cathedral Street and Kickham Street closes. The car park is used extensively and daily by local school buses, business consumers and those attending nearby Church services in the Cathedral. Closure is threatened in February next, in a dispute over failure to agree on a future rent, between the owner of Thurles towns greatest eyesore, (the Munster Hotel), and Tipperary County Council.
EPA Publishes National Criteria that allow for the safe reuse of site-won asphalt (road planings) as by-product.
The generation of construction and demolition waste needs to vastly reduce: the sector is responsible for over 50 per cent of all of Ireland’s waste.
The EPA new national by-product criteria supports the prevention construction waste and instead allows its reuse, as a lower-carbon alternative to virgin materials.
National by-product criteria will provide the construction sector with an efficient regulatory process to reuse road planings in the production of consistent and quality road surface products.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published National By-Product Criteria for Site-Won Asphalt (road planings) from road developments.
Kickham Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary at 3:15 pm today.
These criteria allow for the classification of road planings as a by-product, meaning it is not waste. The by-product can subsequently be used or placed on the market in the same way as virgin material. These criteria support waste prevention and facilitate the reuse of materials in new construction projects, in line with the circular economy.
There is a strong demand for secondary construction products in Ireland to support development of new infrastructure with a low carbon footprint. The criteria allow used asphalt to be remanufactured into new bituminous products for road building.
Commenting on the criteria, Mr David Flynn, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, said: “The publication of national by-product criteria for site-won asphalt is an important step for the ‘greening’ of Ireland’s construction industry. The criteria will support waste prevention and circular economy ambitions, by tackling the generation of construction waste, the largest waste stream in the country, while encouraging the reuse of materials. This is the type of progress needed if Ireland is to move in a meaningful way from the linear to the circular economy.”
The criteria provide a simple way to assess materials for re-use, and will support green procurement ambitions for road development projects.
Mr Warren Phelan, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme noted: “The publication of the national criteria show the EPA’s commitment to streamlining the regulation to support secondary products. The shift away from the assessment of case-by-case applications to national criteria, which is available to all producers, offers more regulatory certainty to the stakeholders involved. These criteria will introduce a level playing field for industry and introduce a single set of rules that are easy to implement.”
The EPA calls on relevant stakeholders in the construction sector to adopt and implement the new criteria.
Further information on the national by-product criteria and other initiatives of the circular economy programme are available on the EPA website, HERE.
Ireland’s economy remains linear with waste generation continuing to rise. Recycling rates are not keeping pace with increasing levels of waste generation.
Ireland is off track to meet mandatory EU recycling targets set to apply from 2025 for municipal waste, packaging waste and plastic packaging waste. These targets are set to progress the circular economy by prioritising recycling over energy recovery and landfill.
Ireland remains overly reliant on unpredictable export markets with almost 382,000 tonnes of residual waste sent for incineration abroad.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published the Circular Economy and Waste Statistics Highlights Report 2021. Ireland’s waste generation levels are continuing to rise and Ireland is failing to make sufficient inroads towards key EU recycling targets that apply from 2025 onwards.
The report shows:
Waste Generation: Construction and demolition (C&D) waste increased by 10% to 9 million tonnes and packaging waste is up by 9% to 1.2 million tonnes. Municipal waste generation remained static at 3.17 million tonnes.
Waste recycling: Municipal waste recycling rates remained unchanged at 41%, while packaging recycling fell by 4% to 58%. Just under 28% of plastic packaging generated in Ireland was recycled in 2021, with the remainder being treated by incineration (70%) and disposal (2%). Ireland is off track to meet mandatory EU recycling targets set to apply from 2025 for municipal waste, packaging waste and plastic packaging waste.
Continued high levels of waste generation coupled with stagnating recycling rates mean that it is now very unlikely that Ireland will meet mandatory EU recycling targets for municipal, plastic packaging and total packaging.
Mr David Flynn, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, said: “We continue to throw away far too much, wasting valuable materials. We live on a resource-finite planet and resource extraction causes greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss and water stress. To reduce these impacts, we must accelerate our transition from a linear economy to a circular, more resource-efficient economy. Right now, we need to focus on avoiding waste. That means reusing construction waste materials where possible, becoming better at segregating our municipal waste and vastly improving the recycling of packaging materials.”
Ireland remains heavily reliant on export for the treatment of several key waste streams in 2021. 38% of municipal waste was exported for treatment in 2021, including 382,000 tonnes of residual waste exported for energy recovery through incineration. Some 69% of packaging waste was exported for treatment.
Commenting on the findings from the report Mr Warren Phelan, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme said: “Ireland is overly reliant on the export of waste for treatment and we are vulnerable to shocks and changes in international markets. We do not have enough facilities for the treatment of non-hazardous and hazardous waste which are missed opportunities to capture the energy and economic value of these wastes.”
To address this Ireland needs to:
Improve waste prevention especially in the C&D sector Roll-out a brown bin service for organic waste to all customers.
Improve waste segregation by businesses and householders putting their waste into the correct bins
Reduce our reliance on vulnerable export markets for our waste
Fully implement our Circular Economy Plan
Further informationon National waste statistics are published on the EPA website. Circular economy and Waste Statistics Highlights Report 2021 is available on the EPA website.
Liberty Square to Anner Hotel Pavement improvement scheme.
Tipperary County Council Road Traffic Act, 1994 Traffic Calming Measures on N75 at Kickham Street, Thurles
Readers are invited to first read “Councillors To Consider Traffic Calming On Kickham Street, Thurles, On Monday”by clicking HERE
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 38 of the Road Traffic Act, 1994, Tipperary County Council hereby gives notice of its intention to carry out traffic calming measures on the N75 at Kickham Street, Thurles.
The traffic calming measures will form part of a pavement improvement scheme which extends along the N75 at Kickham Street from the junction with Mitchell Street to the 100kph Gateway and the works will include the following;
Road re-surfacing for a distance of approximately 1200m.
Footpath improvement works at defined locations.
Improvements to existing surface water drainage to alleviate existing surface water drainage issues.
Traffic calming works (the subject of this notification) as detailed below.
Improved pedestrian facilities including installation of additional uncontrolled pedestrian crossings.
Provision of revised road signage and markings.
The following traffic calming works will be included as part of the pavement improvement scheme;
Narrowing of carriageway running lanes to 3.25m wide (10.66273ft) on the mainline N75 approaches to the Mill Road roundabout
Minor design change to existing layout of Mill Road roundabout
Minor realignment of a section of N75 mainline carriageway to facilitate roundabout improvements
Drawings and particulars of the proposals are available for inspection at the Thurles Municipal District Offices, Castle Avenue, Thurles, Townparks and may be inspected during normal office hours from Thursday, 16th November, 2023 to Monday, 18th December, 2023 inclusive (excluding weekends and bank holidays).
Submissions regarding the proposed traffic calming measures clearly marked “N75 at Kickham Street, Thurles – Section 38” may be made in writing to Marcus O’ Connor, Director of Services, Tipperary County Council, Civic Offices, Limerick Road, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary on or before 4:30 p.m. on 8th January, 2024.
Signed: Marcus O’Connor(Director of Services, Roads & Transportation)
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