There can be little doubt that in areas of the country where they have been installed sensitively and with full public consultation, greenways have been hugely successful in attracting visitors and providing valuable travel and leisure facilities for locals.
The Boyne Greenway, from Drogheda to Oldbridge, or Boyneside Trail as it is also known, has proved very popular with walkers, cyclists and joggers and recently Louth County Council has improved matters by adding three or four benches along the ramparts section of the route which will be very welcome.
But at under 5kms long it can only be considered as a work in progress, part of a larger scheme that would open the beautiful and historic Boyne Valley region up to the growing number of walking and cycling tourists both home-grown and from other countries.
Most of the proposed Boyne Greenway is in County Meath and, in July 2020, almost a decade after it was first suggested by a group of local people, Meath County Council applied for permission to construct another six kilometre section from Mornington to Drogheda.
Earlier this month An Bord Pleanala sought further information from Meath County Council on this proposal.
The information requested is mainly to do with clarification of the route at certain points and it’s visual impact. They also sought additional information on the project’s ecological impact and other issues, such as lighting, noise, amenities/facilities and connectivity.
Meath County Council has now furnished An Bord Pleanala with a detailed response to all of these issues and this information was put into the public domain for consultation for a period of four weeks starting yesterday, April 25th.
The further information is available online and free of charge by clicking HERE . Alternatively it can be purchased at a fee not exceeding the reasonable cost of making a copy during office hours (9am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm each day, excluding weekends and public holidays) from 25th April 2022 to the 20th May 2022 at the following locations:
Planning Department, Meath County Council, Buvinda House, Dublin Road, Navan, Co. Meath, C15 Y291
Laytown-Bettystown Municipal District, Duleek Civic Office, Main Street, Duleek, A92 R9KW.
All documents can also be inspected at the offices of An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1, D01 V902: opening hours Monday to Friday, 9:15a.m. to 5:30p.m. (Tel: 01 8588100), and at the offices of Louth County Council at Drogheda Civic Office, Fair Street, Drogheda, County Louth A92 P440 Opening hours: Monday to Friday – 9.00am to 5.00pm, excluding public holidays.
Submissions and/or observations in relation to that information may be made free of charge to An Bord Pleanála but must be received no later than 5.30 p.m. on the 20th May 2022 at:
An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough St, Dublin 1, D01 V902. Please mark the front of the envelope with the following project name:
“Construction of the Boyne Greenway Drogheda to Mornington, Co. Meath & Co. Louth” AN BORD PLEANÁLA REF ABP-307652-20
