Greenway project has become 'very divisive'

Officials in Mayo County Council have revealed that it is intended to develop the controversial greenway from Belcare to Murrisk through a cross-country route that will directly impact landowners and farmers in the catchment area.

During a heated and lengthy debate at the July meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, it was also revealed that the planning measure known as Part 8, which allows councillors to have input on local developments, is no longer being utilised for the purpose of the project and that it is instead set to be referred to An Coimisiún Pleanála for planning permission. Furthermore, it was outlined that the council is looking at land acquisition along the preferred route, but where agreement cannot be reached, an option to impose compulsory purchase orders (CPO) on landowners is being explored.

Describing the situation as “very divisive” and the handling of the project by the council as “shambolic”, Cathaoirleach Cllr Brendan Mulroy said the project “had created a lot of problems for local people".

"[There is] a lot of tension and stress; some of the people have died since and went to their graves fearing what would happen with the greenway going through their lands.” 

Cllr Mulroy added that councillors had attended a public meeting in Louisburgh two years ago and confidently told people the greenway would be going along the road, “but in a couple of months that was just pulled by the council, and we were left with red faces". He said the council had avoided providing any details on the project since then, adding: “We were being fudged every time we asked about it, and people were not treated fairly to my mind.” 

He added that taking it out of the Part 8 planning process meant councillors would no longer have any say in the matter.

Senior engineer with the council's roads office, Paul Hyland, said the cross-country route, officially termed the “offline route”, had not yet been referred to An Coimisiún Pleanála, but agreed that it was intended to go down that route.

He added that the council was not happy with how long the process has taken, which he said happened for a variety of reasons as he outlined that regulatory assessments to protect the environment, areas of conservation, biodiversity and habitats must be carried out by the council for all public infrastructure projects. He noted that while the “online option” (along the R335 road) was considered to directly impact the Clew Bay Special Area of Conservation, the offline route would only impact the SAC in terms of the rivers along it, adding: “Screening needed to be carried out on these rivers and streams and the conclusion was it cannot rule out an effect on fauna and foliage and a mitigation scheme is needed.” He said the screening report will be made available to the public in the coming months, that a full assessment of the route shall not be carried out unless An Coimisiún Pleanála approve the project, and that pending approval, they would hope to hold a workshop with councillors in a number of months in relation to the preferred offline route.

Mr Hyland was questioned by councillors on the “land acquisition” element of the project and what would happen should landowners refuse access to their lands. He replied: “Obviously in time, if the offline route is to be assessed, we will need access to the land. If we don’t get access, how we approach it will be determined by a Best Code of Practice that is currently being reviewed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Department of Transport. When we hopefully come with the recommendation on what we believe is the right route, maybe we will talk with you about how we move on then.” 

Cllr Brendan Mulroy retorted: “Let’s talk about it now. The district court is clearly your option if people say no.” 

Cllr Paul McNamara added: “And then it moves to CPO. We have moved on from our permissive access agreements along the Westport to Achill greenway, and land acquisition, no matter how you dress it up, the end result is CPO, which is a very slow and painful process for the landowner involved at the end of which they are going to lose their land.” 

Cllr Peter Flynn said he was glad the officials had clarified that “the on-road route option isn’t on the table and the route you recommend is going to be off-road". He agreed that the Westport to Achill greenway happened through the goodwill of people, but said a situation was now arising whereby a landowner was closing access to a significant portion of the route, meaning users would have to go out onto a 100kph roadway.

He said his view of the project was in relation to the common good, but added that in all his years of politics, he had "never received as many threats or faced such abuse" as he did in relation to his support for the offline route.

Further debate continued, with Cllr Chris Maxwell calling for the council to take the on-road route back into consideration. Cllr Sean Carey said it would be very difficult to get landowners to agree to grant access to their land for assessments while Cllr John O’Malley said people did not realise how attached farmers and landowners are to their land, how they will hold onto it through the generations no matter what, how he himself would die for his own land, before going on to suggest that no person would be safe to go across a greenway route built under such ill will.

Cllr Gerry Coyle simply declared: “I don’t think it is going to work lads. I don’t think this greenway will happen.”

Mr Hyland stated: “We have always acknowledged this is a challenging project and can only be progressed with the understanding of landowners. If we are to deliver infrastructure projects funded by the state, the council must own the land. We don’t make this up but are only the implementers of policy. We in our office did not decide we would like a greenway between Belcarra, Murrisk and on to Louisburgh. That is in the County Development Plan, agreed by members.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.