Kerry County Council’s plans to implement a compulsory purchase order to acquire land to provide an inner link road in the centre of Killarney town will not now be ruled on by An Bord Pleanála until next December – at the earliest.
The road earmarked runs from the rear of St Mary’s Terrace to Monsignor O’Flaherty Road, in the townlands of Inch and Coolgrean, and the proposed project will involve a single carriageway road of approximately 120m in length.
The proposed new relief route, designed to ease traffic congestion in the town, would form a vehicular and pedestrian link between New Street, adjacent to Dunne Stores, and the top of High Street, via Monsignor O’Flaherty Road.
Following the conclusion of the required public consultation process last March, the information will be forwarded to An Bord Pleanála for consideration of the project under the Compulsory Acquisition Housing Act.
The planning appeals board has now confirmed, however, that a decision on the matter will not be revealed earlier than December 6 next.
According to council documentation, the landowners, or reputed owners, involved include Eircom Limited, Dunnes Stores Retailing Unlimited, John Quill, Barleymount, Killarney, IPH Killarney Holdings Limited, Ground Sell Limited/Brooke Lodge Hotel and Kerry County Council.
KillarneyToday.com revealed earlier this year that the local authority had informed key landowners of its intention to pursue a compulsory purchase order. The proposed route has been in the pipeline for several years and the council insists it is one solution to adequately tackling serious traffic issues in the town.
Negotiations regarding the long-running saga of essential land acquisition – which is required to allow the plans to proceed as intended – had been ongoing with the landowners involved for several years.
The inner relief road will run along the Monsignor O’Flaherty Road, off High Street, to Bohereen-Na-Goun, at the rear of commercial premises on New Street, adjacent to the Killarney Enterprise Centre, Dunnes Stores and the Eir building next to the supermarket car park.
The long-term plan it to join the High Street junction with the new inner relief road, as proposed in a major traffic management study, commissioned by the council and published by consultants Malachy Walsh and Partners, in November 2016.
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