'Road to nowhere' to be taken in charge

Kilcullen businesses who spent a substantial five-figure sum to protect their area from Traveller incursions will now have to move the electric gates they put in place, writes Brian Byrne.

The businesses in the Knockbounce Business Park had the gate system installed after Travellers tried to set up an encampment on a 'road to nowhere' built as part of the development on the Kildare County Council-owned site. The businesses were told last Friday that the Council is now taking the road in charge.

The road was built with a plan that it be a link thoroughfare between the Athy and Curragh road, easing heavy traffic that comes from the motorway as far as the Hideout Cross to go to Newbridge and the Curragh.

Councillors agreed to the road back in September 2005, and it was then thought that work would begin on completing it in the spring of the following year. But that never happened.

Much of the roadway is already in place as part of the developments on the Curragh Road end, and for the business park. But a 100-metre length had to be negotiated with the GAA and one of the developers back in 2005. The proposed road had to be realigned because of the position of two houses.

It's understood that negotiations between the Council and the GAA on a land swap to facilitate the road have been ongoing since 2005, and the decision to take the road in charge could mean that these are close to a conclusion.

The businesses in the Park, who invested in excess of €4m in its development, are Structural Concrete Bonding Services Ltd in Newbridge, Trench Control Ltd from Naas, Murphy Surveys Ltd, and John Cradock Civil Engineering.