A stand-off took place at the Lakepoint Park housing estate in Mullingar, last Thursday, 14 November, when a single-tier National Transport Authority (NTA) bus was blocked from driving through a single-lane pedestrian walkway into Gleann Petit Green.
Councillors and Lakepoint Park residents in Mullingar have expressed their disapproval to the National Transport Authority (NTA) and the Westmeath Council Executive for not receiving prior notification of the test.
The NTA and a Westmeath Council Executive member have maintained to Topic that the episode was simply testing for new routes and “absolutely standard practice.”
However, councillors were incensed, believing it was agreed in the Mullingar-Kinnegad District meetings that no bus route would be going through the estates. Cllr Michael Dollard labelled the NTA’s actions as “underhanded.”
Unnamed residents have told Topic that the bus route planning was a “complete surprise,” and that any bus going through the pedestrian walkway would present a danger as there would be “no room for pedestrians” with a bus “barely fitting” through the pedestrian walkway.
“The main aspect is the children’s safety,” said a resident.
In July 2024, two planned bus routes for a planned town bus service were publicly released, neither of which ran between the two estates. The first route planned would take in stops between Ballymahon Road and Lakepoint Retail Park on the Delvin Road. The second route would commence at Lough Sheever and end on Ballinderry Road.
Both Patrick Kavanagh, the District Engineer of Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District, and a spokesperson for the NTA have denied that the actions could be underhanded.
“There is nothing there other than testing routes,” said Mr Kavanagh. “It is nothing more than that.
“It was the Council who removed the bollards and they removed the bollards on a public area that is under Westmeath County Council ownership.
“It is only test routes. There is no guarantee that we will bring a route through there.”
A spokesperson for the NTA said: “The NTA and Westmeath County Council are planning to launch two new town bus services for Mullingar towards the end of 2025, subject to final confirmation of funding availability.
“Testing of possible bus route options took place last week to help in the process of checking the physical viability of multiple route options on the ground. These tests are just one part of the information gathering exercise, to help plan the best possible bus service for Mullingar.”
Describing the scene, believed to have happened at around 11am, a resident told Topic how they had heard an angle grinder.
“There was a guy in a high-vis angle grinding blocks off the five bollards that are out there between the two estates, Lakepoint Park and Gleann Petit,” said the resident.
“They said they were running a bus through in about 15 minutes. It was a complete surprise to me and the residents in the estate because nobody had been notified that the NTA were going to be test running local routes though our estate.
“After contacting local councillors, they were of the opinion that they were surprised this was happening because no one had been informed.”
“They tried to run a proper, full-length coach, which barely made it through the gap.”
“The driver didn’t get out of the bus but there was about five other men. I suppose they were officials. They had another guy who was calculating the length of the road.”
“Other residents voiced their concerns that they were not informed that this was happening. There was not much conversation with them.
“The bus came down through Gleann Petit and there was a car blocking the small corridor where the bollards are, so the driver had to reverse back up Gleann Petit.
“It had to reverse all the way back up the length of 20 or 30 houses with no one walking beside the bus, no one checking blindspots.”
The resident then said that the bus returned to the pedestrian walkway via the Lakepoint Park entrance, with a car still deliberately blocking the exit of the bus, but that from this side, the bus could drive into the pedestrian walkway.
COUNCILLORS
An angered Cllr Dollard told Topic: “I got a phone call from a local resident. That has to go back to the council. All the other councillors don’t want through traffic between the N4 and the N52.
“It is not going to happen either because the councillors in the Mullingar area are totally against through traffic in the estates. It has already been raised by the councillors during the last council. That has come up before.
“I think the NTA are very underhanded quite frankly but it is not going to be accepted by the Mullingar councillors. It suits the NTA because the N4 and N52 are so close, and divided by the two housing estates, so they obviously think it would be quicker for them to go through the estates, but the local residents don’t want that.”
“The NTA have to devise a different route to accommodate their needs.
“Those bollards were put up there many years ago to prevent through traffic. I don’t know what interaction the NTA had with Westmeath County Council.”
Cllr Ken Glynn said: “I would not be happy about the bus going through any residential area. As councillors, we clearly stated that we were not in favour of that. We prefer the bus to go through outer roads and people would leave their estates and go to a bus stop.”
“That’s not changed as far as I am concerned and that is the way it should be, not buses driving through estates.”
“I will be raising this with the council as soon as I can. I can only speak for myself, that I don’t support it going through any residential areas.”
MIXED COMMENTS
Social media comments on pages related to Lakepoint Park had mixed viewpoints on the benefits of busses running through Lakepoint Park and Gleann Petit Green.
Some commenters said they were in favour of a town bus running through the estates, citing the fact not everyone were drivers, nor had access to a car.
However, a resident told Topic: “I am all for a bus route for Mullingar. It would be a great thing but I am not for putting children’s lives at risk so that people don’t have to walk two or three minutes to the front of the estate where they can hop on the bus there.
“The main aspect is the children’s safety. There is a lot of children out there in the evening time.
“These buses are meant to be running every 20 minutes. That space is quite busy for pedestrians walking through the gap so there is no room for pedestrians there where the bus is driving past.”
“They’re conducting their tests when people are at work and children are not playing because they are school. It is a strange time to conduct tests unless the test was just to see if the bus fitted through the gap.”
“This was all discussed previously and the county council didn’t even notify the councillors that this was taking place but it had already been agreed that it would not. I don’t know why they were test running the route if this had been agreed.”
