Driving centre parking issues continue

A suggestion that the driving test centre in Mullingar should be moved to a new location has been made at municipal district level.

Presently located at the entrance to Bellview Heights, the centre is causing frustration to local residents because of the number of cars parking in the vicinity of the premises.

Discussed by members of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad at their June meeting, the subject was revisited at the members’ July meeting where Cllr Mick Dollard said that both he and Cllr Andrew Duncan had received messages from the manager of the Road Safety Authority saying that all RSA staff park in the car park at the centre, and not on the road.

Private businesses providing services to learner drivers are not, however, permitted to do so.

He suggested that the council write to these businesses informing them that they should also not park on the road there.

“They have to come up with an alternative location themselves,” he said

Cllr Duncan said he has spoken to several driving instructors about the problem and had visited the site several times since the last meeting in a bid to come up with a solution: “I'm starting to come to the conclusion that the best solution to this is to move the driving test centre into an industrial estate that is capable of taking [the traffic]. I don't see a long term solution for this,” he said.

He stated that on one side of the issue are the residents fed up of seeing cars parked everywhere; on the other side are the driving instructors who say they have been parking there for a long time and there has never been an issue.

“So I don't see this going away anytime soon,” he said of the problem.

“I personally don't think it's an appropriate place to have it - at the front of the housing estate.

“What’s really required is to have it moved somewhere more suitable.”

Director of services David Jones undertook to continue liaising with the RSA on the issue.