MAGHERAFELT DISTRICT COUNCIL MINUTES OF Proceedings of a Meeting of Magherafelt District Council held in the Council Chamber, 50 Ballyronan Road, Magherafelt on Tuesday, 14 December 2004. The meeting commenced at 7.30 pm. Presiding: P E Groogan Other Members Present: R A Montgomery T J Catherwood O T Hughes J Junkin Miss K A Lagan J F Kerr J A McBride Rev Dr R T Wm McCrea P H McErlean P McLean J J McPeake H E Mullan S O’Brien J P O’Neill G C Shiels Officers Present: J A McLaughlin (Chief Executive) J J Tohill (Director of Finance and Administration) C W Burrows (Director of Environmental Health) W J Glendinning (Director of Building Control) T J Johnston (Director of Operations) Mrs A Junkin (Chief Executive’s Secretary) Miss A Boyle (Licensing Officer) Representatives from Other Roads Service: Bodies in Attendance: Mr Richard Hamilton – Principal Engineer – Network Development Mrs Maura Hackett – Bridges and Project Management Engineer Mr Des McFarlane – Section Engineer Planning Service: Miss D Dickson – Planning Officer 1. MINUTES Submitted Minutes of Meeting of the Council held on Tuesday, 9 November 2004 (copy circulated to each Member). 1.1 Councillor R A Montgomery referred to Page 3 of the Minutes, and requested that it be amended to read that Councillor Montgomery proposed that the letter of congratulation be sent to R. Crawford and not Councillor G. Shiels. 2 Councillor R A Montgomery also referred to Page 13 of the Minutes paragraph 3, and requested that it should read that water charges “should be low” and not “would be low” as in the Minute. 1.2 Accordingly it was PROPOSED by the Councillor J P O’Neill Seconded by Councillor J F Kerr, and RESOLVED: that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on Tuesday, 9 November 2004, subject to the above amendments, be taken as read and signed as correct. It was PROPOSED by Councillor P H McErlean Seconded by Councillor J F Kerr, and RESOLVED: that the Minutes of a Special Meeting held on Wednesday 17 November 2004, be taken as read and signed as correct. 2. MATTERS ARISING 2.1 The Chief Executive submitted a letter of OUT OF THE MINUTES reply to Councillor Lagan’s Motion informing the Members that Mr David Ferguson would address the next Meeting of the Council to be held on 11 January 2005 to discuss the Planning Service’s workload pressures Noted. 2.2 Submitted letter of reply from Water Reform addressing Councillor Montgomery’s comment about the legality in England and Wales to raise water and sewerage charges by reference to property rateable value. Mr Sterling in his letter stated that this was the case up until 1999, but this provision had been, amended by Section 8 of the Water Industry Act in 1999. Noted. 2.3 Submitted letter from Mr Pat Doherty, Divisional Roads Manager in connection with Pay and Display Parking – Rainey Street and Union Road car-parks, Magherafelt. The letter stated that the proposal to introduce pay and display would proceed. 3 2.3.1 Mr Duddy also informed the Members that the Western Division had ordered seven Ticket Machines which they expected to install in mid- January and be up and running by the end of January 2005. 2.3.2 Mr Doherty said that he would appreciate an opportunity to meet the Council and discuss the issue before the end of January 2005. Noted. 2.4 Letter of thanks from Buckingham Palace for the Council’s kind message of condolence that was sent to the Queen following the recent death of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Noted. 2.5 Letter from Lisburn City Council in reply to the Council regarding the content of a Notice of Motion relating to proportionality arrangements. The letter stated that the correspondence from Magherafelt District Council was an unwarranted, unwelcome and indeed inaccurate interference with the internal business of Lisburn Council. Noted. 3. CONGRATULATIONS 3.1 Councillor O T Hughes proposed that a message of Congratulations be sent to Bellaghy 260/12/2004 Wolfe Tonnes GAA Club on winning the Senior Reserve Championship. 3.2 The Chairman Councillor P E Groogan proposed that a message of Congratulations be sent to St Colm’s High School, Draperstown in recognition of the school attaining the Investors in People Accreditation. 3.3 Members agreed that messages of congratulations be sent to Bellaghy Wolfe Tonnes GAA Club and St Colm’s High School. 4. ROADS SERVICE The Chairman welcomed Mr Richard Hamilton, Ms Moira Hackett and Mr Des McFarlane from 279/12/2004 Roads Service to the meeting and asked them to present the Works Programme – Autumn 2004 for 4 the Magherafelt District Council area (copy circulated to each Member). 4.1 Mr Hamilton referred to the replies made to Councillors on queries raised by individual Members at the last Council meeting when Roads Service attended on 8 June 2004 (copies enclosed with the Works Programme). 4.2 Mr Hamilton referred to the Draft Local Transport and Safety Measures Programme 2005- 2007 and commenced on Page 17 of the report. 1 Aughrim Road, Magherafelt - C560 Mr Hamilton said that this scheme involved the realignment of the carriageway at Hoggs Corner for a distance of 200 metres. It was of high importance but to bring the carriageway into a more horizontal line the scheme would be subject to land availability and could possibly take away some buildings. 2 Ballymacombs Road at Smithtown Cross, Portglenone – A54 This scheme involved the realignment of the carriageway over a distance of 500 metres and construction of new verges. Mr Hamilton said that this would be a very worthwhile scheme but was a very expensive one which would have to be carried out over a two years period. Councillor O T Hughes enquired about the cost of the scheme. In reply, Mr Hamilton said that it would cost £500,000. He said that they would have to make some effort to carry out major schemes otherwise little would happen. Councillor T J Catherwood asked what was the Department’s plan for this scheme. Mr Hamilton said that it was to realign the roadway and take away the double bends. The Chairman, Councillor P E Groogan stated that Members should not ask questions on each scheme but rather listen to the comments and ask questions at the end of the presentation. 5 3 Ballynacross Road/Quarry Road – U5058/C550 This was a smaller scheme which involved the improvement of sight lines at the junction of Ballynacross Road/Quarry Road and would strengthen the verge for a short distance for the junction of the Ballynacross Road. 4 Ballynease Road, Portglenone – C546/U5071 Mr Hamilton explained that this was phase two and three of the scheme which consisted of constructing approximately 230 metres of footway from houses No.102 to the entrance of No.106B on the Ballynease Road and 275 metres from the junction of the Ballynease Road with the Culbane Road. This scheme would be carried out over a period of two years. 5 Broagh Road, Castledawson – U5131 This again was a smaller scheme involving the construction of a footway from the junction with the Moyola Road to the entrance into hotel. 6 Coolshinney Road, Magherafelt – U5176 This scheme involved the construction of a footway from the existing footway at Coolshinney Road to A31 Moneymore Road. 7 Carricknakielt Road, Maghera (Phase I) – U5053 This scheme involved constructing 330 metres of footway together with fencing, drainage and verge support from Craigadick Park to Milltown Bridge. Mr Hamilton said that there were land issues. There were two options – do the footpath now or wait until the development progresses. 8 Hall Lane, Mayogall, Gulladuff – U5077 This scheme involved the vertical realignment of Hall Lane and provision of a footway from the junction of Mayogall Road for approximately 116 metres. Mr Hamilton said that this scheme required substantial funding and required to be looked at very carefully. 6 9 Macknagh Lane, Upperlands, Maghera – U5028/B75 Mr Hamilton said that this was a worthwhile scheme involving improvement of sight lines at the junction of U5028 Macknagh Lane and the B75 Kilrea Road by removing high bankings. 10 Moneymore Road, Desertmartin at Junction of Curr Road – A29/U168 This scheme involved the realignment of the carriageway over 388 metres at the junction of Curr Road. Mr Hamilton stated that this carriageway had the potential for something to go wrong and therefore needed to be addressed. 11 Rocktown Lane junction/Hillhead Road, Knockloughrim – U5083/C557 This scheme consisted of improving sight lines at Rocktown Lane at the junction with Hillhead Road, Knockloughrim. Mr Hamilton pointed out that there was a problem with a visibility splay at this junction. 12 Tobermore Road, Killytoney – A29 This scheme involved the realignment of approximately 650 metres of carriageway between the junction at Drumsamney Road and Quarry Road which would ease a below standard bend on the A29 south of Tobermore at Killytoney. This scheme which was over 1Km in length would cost somewhere around £1 million and would have to be phased. 4.3 Mr Hamilton said that under the Network Development for 2004/2005 – Strategic Road Improvements the Differential Acceleration Lane (DAL) from Castledawson Roundabout towards Maghera on the A6 had started and it was hoped would be finished by March 2005. The estimated cost of this scheme would be £600,000. 4.4 Mr Hamilton then referred to Works in Progress under the Local Transport and Safety Measures 2004-2005. He mentioned the following schemes - B47 - Sixtowns Road Draperstown – carriageway widening had started and hopefully the footway would connect across the bridge.