Louth County Council and a number of landowners and developers, are to commence work on the western phase of the much delayed Port Access Northern Cross Route (PANCR) road from the R132 to the proposed Ballymakenny Roundabout despite the lack of Government funding to date.
Louth County Council officials have carried out considerable technical and forward planning work on the route and, despite being knocked back for funding from central Government once again last year, advance works, including the removal of fencing and hedges, are scheduled to commence today Monday 7th February, to facilitate next stage tendering.
Local TD Ged Nash said that of itself, this is a welcome development, but he pointed out that “…this is a developer-led initiative and it should not be up to developers alone to deliver critical infrastructure like this.”
“The elephant in the room is the continued absence of a single red cent from government to support the most important piece of infrastructure Drogheda requires to help our town develop sustainably.
“It is an indictment of the government that the private sector is prepared to invest in Drogheda to get the road started, but the State is not. Their confidence in Drogheda is not being matched by government.
“If this section of the road advances, it will open up some lands for residential development between the North Road and the Ballymakenny Road.
“Government cannot wash their hands of their responsibilities. It is long past time they stepped up and co-funded the road in the way that was always envisaged in order to see the homes, schools, sports facilities and parklands contained within the original master plan to meet our growing town’s needs.”
However, Mayor of Drogheda James Byrne told Drogheda life that he welcomed the move. He said that following the Council’s failure to secure funding under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) last year he had suggested that the Council should go it alone and progress the link road in stages.
“There really is no more time to lose” he said. “I expect officials from Louth County Council to update Councillors later in the spring on any such proposal”.
Some of the land that will be opened up for development when the new road is built.
