Search Results for 'Paul Benson'

In a discussion on the take over of estates and the local property tax at this week’s Ballina Town Council meeting, Fianna Fáil councillor Johnny O’Malley hit out at the self regulation of planning that he feels has contributed to the number of unfinished estates in the country.

A long standing cash and carry business was extensively damaged by a fire that broke out on Monday night and took a number of hours to get under control. The fire occurred at Tuffy’s Cash and Carry in Bohernasup and caused a number of roads to be closed around the town as five units from Ballina, Enniscrone, and Crossmolina fire stations battled the blaze. With fumes and smoke emanating from the building for a long time, nearby residents were advised to stay indoors and keep their windows and doors closed. Tuffy’s Cash and Carry has been in operation for long number of years and employed 30 people in the town on a full and part time basis.

The new Swinford Library and Cultural Centre will be open to the public in the next few months according to acting director of services for the area Paul Benson.

The Swinford Electoral Area Committee this week gave initial approval for Mayo County Council to give a half-acre site to the Foxford Alzheimer’s Day Care Centre on a 99-year lease for a nominal fee. The patch of land is located on Admiral Browne Road, Foxford beside a portion of land that the council has already given for the construction of a medical centre in the future.

Ballina Town Council will be putting new draft signage bye-laws out to public consultation in the next few weeks. Town architect, Kevin Keegan gave a presentation to the members of the council on the issue of poor and unattractive signage in the town and its surrounds and the impression it gives. Mr Keegan told the meeting that the council had problems in trying to get certain businesses to comply with the council’s requests to remove or replace poor signage as there were no bye-laws in place.

Following their second public meeting and after a number of behind closed doors sessions the elected members of Ballina Town Council finalised their budget for 2013 on Wednesday evening. Following the protracted discussions, the members agreed to keep the commercial rate the same in the town as the previous year at a figure of €64.52 in the euro, but made a number of changes to the spending priorities in the budget.

The three town councils in Mayo faced into what will possibly be their last budgets over the past two weeks. However at both the Castlebar Town Council and Ballina Town Council budget meetings the issue of starting the review of the towns’ development plans and the costs associated with them has caused a lot of debate this week.

The elected members of Ballina Town Council adjourned their annual budget meeting this week. The members agreed to meet again at 6pm before their annual monthly meeting which is due to take place next Wednesday, January 23.

Ballina town councillors have asked that the town council give three hours free parking in the town each day in the lead up to Christmas. Independent councillor Mary Kelly, proposed that the council give free parking from 10am to 1pm every day from December 8 until Christmas to give a boost to the retailers in the town centre. She told the meeting: “They are the rate payers in the town and they need our support in the lead up to Christmas.”

With the impending dissolution of town councils coming up at the end of their current term in 2014, the members of Ballina Town Council are determined to forge ahead with conservation work on the Augustine Abbey in the town. The abbey which was built in 1423, is the birth place of the town as it is today and the members were give an update on the first phase of restoration works undertaken by the town council in recent weeks. Kevin Keegan, town architect for Ballina Town Council, told the November meeting of the council: “We’ve made some good progress, the ivy on it looked more like a forest than anything else. We were worried about the weight of the ivy which could become top heavy on the ruins.”