The much heralded development of the Mell Greenway, which got the go-ahead from the Government in February 2020 with funds allocated from its Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, seems unlikely to go ahead in the forseable future and Local TD Fergus O’Dowd is laying the blame firmly at the door of Louth County Council.
O’Dowd said he is “utterly dismayed” that the much anticipated €200k Greenway project is now in serious peril. “I’m infuriated that this project has not progressed in an appropriate timeframe” he said, “the project was approved two and a half years ago and no sod has been turned to date.
“In early 2021 the council failed to provide me with a commencement date a full year after the project was approved and I then raised the matter with Minister Humphreys on numerous occasions to put pressure on the council to ensure this project was commenced.
“The Minister has now confirmed to me that the council may have to submit a brand new application in a future round of funding which I find completely unacceptable considering the timeframe since the council made their application in 2019.
“My job is to fight for every investment opportunity to improve our town and I believe that the initial lack of action and urgency on this project has led to this outcome, the issues relating to Natura Impact Statement and An Bord Pleanala permission should have been identified much earlier in the process” O’Dowd added .
“This is so disappointing and I will now be seeking any avenue that leads to the investment remaining in the town.”
“This follows on from the worrying news last week that €200k in funding for projects in Blackrock and Dromiskin have been returned to the Department under the town and village renewal scheme after the council failed to progress the project in the prescribed timelines.”
“We need to carefully assess how these results compare to other local authorities across the country.”
Click the link below to see our report from February 2020 of the announcement of the funding for this and other projects – it would be interstesting to see which of these projects have since been carried out:
€800,000 funding for greenways in Louth and Meath
