Mayo street to remain closed for safety works

A town centre street in Castlebar is to remain closed for safety works to take place.

Lower Charles Street will not be open to the public until the start of next week at the earliest, Mayo County Council has confirmed.

Following a gas explosion at a premises on the street, the council issued a Section 3 Notice under the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1964, informing the owner that the property was considered a dangerous structure and posed a risk to the public and adjoining building.

The road adjacent to the building has been closed to the public since, pending completion of the mitigation works set out in the notice to stabilise the structure.

From discussions held with the owner’s representatives, it was expected that these works would be completed this week.

However, following a meeting held on site yesterday morning (Wednesday), between Mayo County Council and the contractor for the owner of the building, Mayo County Council has confirmed that the street will not be open to the public until the start of next week at the earliest.

A statement from the council explained that this is due to a delay with delivery of specialist propping material required to support the front façade of the building.

Delivery of the material and the works are expected to be completed over the weekend.

Until this work is completed to protect the public and adjacent buildings, the decision was made for the road to remain closed until the prop work has been put in place and certified by the owner’s engineer.