Active Travel scheme heavily criticised in Ballina
A Director of Services with Mayo County Council has expressed concern over the handling of recent allocations under the Active Travel scheme.
Catherine McConnell told councillors in the Ballina Municipal District that she met with the head of Active Travel in Mayo, Cathy Mellett, and other council officials to discuss the funding announcement. She said they shared concern that the allocations, which were announced recently by the National Transport Authority (NTA), do not seem to match planning that has happened at a local level, particularly the Ballina Local Transport Plan (LTP).
“We put in a good body of work but it does not seem that has led the allocations of funding. Active Travel does not seem to be taking its cues from the LTP,” she said. “We need to be more vocal about this and bring it to the main council chamber and perhaps seek a meeting with the NTA.
“Active Travel is a fantastic initiative but you have to wonder what is influencing these allocations,” she added.
Under the most recent Active Travel funding announcement, a total of €450,000 was announced for the Ballina Municipal District out of a total allocation of €3m for Mayo. This includes €200,000 for an Active Travel Scheme on Creggs Road, Ballina, €50,000 for an Active Travel Scheme in Killala town and €200,000 for a Safe Routes to School scheme for Carn National School, Moygownagh.
Cllr Michael Loftus criticised the inconsistent allocation of resources under the scheme.
"There seems to be no rhyme or reason to a lot of it. There are a lot of things that are not included."
Cllr Mark Duffy described Active Travel, in its current state, as "a disgrace".
“We have had very little consultation with the consultants and we are told that everything will feed into the LTP but we get paltry sums to complete important jobs.
“We are not seeing the transformational change that was promised on the ground. We should reject it all until we see something with ambition. These itty-bitty plans fly in the face of what Active Travel was supposed to be.”
Cllr Duffy added that the councillors should write to the new Minister for Transport.
“We have all the money for bureaucrats and consultants but none left then to do the actual job. We should write to the incoming Minister for Transport and demand significant funding for Active Travel projects,” he said.
