26 May 2003: A survey is to be undertaken to determine the amounts and types of heavy trucks that go through Naas each day, and what percentage of them are going on to landfills near Kilcullen.
The issue was raised at Town Council level by Cllr Charlie Byrne following an accident, reported on KNN, on the Fair Green in Naas the previous week when a rear door of a dump truck swung open hitting a parked van.
Cllr Byrne wanted to know what refuse from other counties is being dumped in County Kildare.
Cllr Mary Glennon reminded the Council that in November 2001 she, with Cllrs Pat McCarthy and Anthony Egan organised a big protest march from the Fair Green to the Town Hall following a fatality involving a truck.
“You yourself were there carrying a sign,” she reminded Mayor Timmy Conway who had asked her to be brief with her statement. He had set aside Standing Orders to allow Cllr Byrne’s statement.
“We presented a huge number of signatures asking the county manager to have a new look at KTK because the dump trucks passing through Naas were causing havoc,” she said. “Since then, their numbers have gone up.” She said the county manager had given KTK an increase in the amount of truck movements, and conditions imposed have not been adhered to. “Trucks are queuing up to get into the dump, and while I don’t wish to inflict them on Kilcullen, the time has come to say they are not coming through Naas any more,” she emphasised, adding: “I guarantee you we will stop them if the manager doesn’t.”
She was backed by Cllr McCarthy who said he had a motion agreed by the Council some 18 months ago that Kildare County Council review the planning conditions it imposed on KTK, given that the Environmental Protection Agency (which licences landfills) had allowed them increase their business by 25%. “We were told the Council was negotiating with KTK to take some trucks out of Naas, but that hasn’t happened,” he said.
Cllr Anthony Egan said the Fair Green incident was a reminder of other accidents. He said there are 5-6 big dump trucks passing through Naas at any one time, from early morning to late evening and ‘there doesn’t seem to be any enforcement on these trucks’. He said the Council should demand ‘we give the streets back to the people’.
Cllr Willie Callaghan asked if Kildare County Council is checking the amount of lorries coming through the town. He said if they are breaking conditions of their permission, something should be done about it.
Cllr Pat O’Reilly was concerned about the types of materials the trucks are transporting. “Judging from the smell of some of them ....” He said the wheels of all vehicles are supposed to be washed on leaving a site but this was not happening and should be enforced.
At this, Cllr Eibhlin Bracken said she objected to lorries exiting developments on the Newbridge Road depositing muck all over the road.
Mayor Timmy Conway said they should press ahead with the link road from the Newbridge Road to the Kilcullen Road to get the trucks off the Kilcullen Road.
Winding up, Cllr Byrne said he wanted an official response to his queries as to the origin of the refuse being dumped in Kildare.
Town engineer John McGowan agreed to investigate his queries, and the percentage of waste trucks and other commercial vehicles passing through Naas..
