Proposed lighting upgrades in Carbury are not being considered "for now", according to KCC
A local councillor believes there is an element of "bias" towards urban areas when it comes to lighting infrastructure upgrades in the county.
It comes as proposed lighting upgrades at Clonkeen Cross in Carbury are not being considered "for now", according to Kildare County Council.
It's because the proposal did not achieve a "sufficiently high ranking for works to be considered for now", when assessed against the Kildare Lighting Infrastructure Priority Schedule (KLIPS) scoring criteria.
It adds that the location falls within Category B (Areas of Low District Brightness), where infill lighting is only considered where infrastructure is readily available or where engineering solutions for vulnerable road users are being implemented.
KCC has said the upgrades would cost an estimated €80,000 (€66,765 excluding VAT)
Speaking on Kildare Today, Fine Gael Councillor for Clane-Maynooth MD William Durkan explained why he feels there is "a little bit of a bias" at hand:
"It [the scoring criteria] is somewhere where I feel there's a little bit of a bias, the logic makes sense that they tend to service urban areas more because the logic is that you'll service more users for the same investment.
"A junction in a busy area could service 1,000 people a day, a service in a rural area may only be 100 people a day."
Cllr Durkan said that while he understands the policy and praises the work done, that rural areas may be at a disadvantage as a result:
"Over time that bias gets reinforced and it's continually the same ones [areas] at the bottom of that list.
"I understand the policy, I know the team does a lot of work with limit resources within the council, but I do feel we are within our remit, as councillors, when we have a little bit of a bias like that, to step in every now and then and that's the case I'll be making in the coming months.
The full interview can be heard below:
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