Labour Councillor Pio Smith has taken issue with a recent statement to Drogheda Life by Deputy Fergus O’Dowd that Minster Heather Humphries had withdrawn the €200,000 previously awarded for the Mell Walkway project due to delays by Louth County Council.
Councillor Smith says that Deputy O’Dowd gave the impression that the project is dead in the water, but he doesn’t believe that it is.
“The council have put a lot of work into this project and because the walkway traverses a Special Area of Conservation and some privately owned land it has proven difficult but not impossible to complete” Councillor Smith said.
“The application for approval is currently with An Bord Pleanala and the submission period for observations has closed. The Bord has forwarded copies of submissions to the Council and this includes the National Parks and Wildlife requesting further information.
“The planning approval is expected in Q3 2023. The Department has been updated with the current status of the application to the Bord and issued a decision this week to decommit the funding.
“The Department would welcome a future project submission for consideration regarding the Boyne Greenway North Bank Drogheda when the proposal is at a more developed stage and the necessary planning consents are in place.”
Louth County Council is committed to progressing this project and is progressing the above requested information to submit to ABP. Louth County Council will progress the design and tender documents so as to be in a position to progress the works as soon as approval and funding are in place .
My understanding is that the Department will look favourably on Louth County Council when a new application is made, and it will be made. The funding is decommited for 2023 but in my opinion after speaking to council officials I expect funding to be made available in 2024.
“After all it’s €200K and given the expected 2023 budget surplus of €10 billion that is not an insurmountable amount.”
See our previous article: Three years and €200k for Mell Greenway lost – O’Dowd
