BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

The City Manager is pressing ahead with proposals to replace the Menlo Park roundabout with a signalised junction – despite the fact it will be voted down by councillors.

He has been accused of “pursuing blind ambition” by one councillor, who said an alternative plan for the junction needs to be drawn up.

In a report circulated to councillors, interim manager Joe O’Neill recommended that proposals to vary the City Development Plan should be approved.

His recommendation comes despite massive local opposition – one submission was signed by 885 people, while objections were also lodged by the Menlo Park Hotel and Dunnes Stores.

Local businesses complained of a lack of consultation and transparency on the plan.

A vote must be taken by December 5 on the proposal to vary the Development Plan, before a further vote is taken on the planning for the roundabout. However, the majority, if not all 15, local councillors are set to vote against the proposal.

The plans for the new signalised junction involve the closure of the existing Menlo Road, and the creating of a new slip road running along the front of the Menlo Park Hotel.

 Cllr Padraig Conneely told The Sentinel yesterday: “The Manager is continuing to pursue blind ambition, and I’m alarmed to see that expert consultants hired by the likes of Dunnes Stores were being ignored. I’m disturbed at the lack of transparency and consultation and with the way the Council does business.”

For more on this story, see The Sentinel.