Plans revealed for 'wasteland' strip of land in Mayo town

Mayo County Council - and not CIÉ - is responsible for cleaning up the embankment in front of the train station in Ballina, a meeting of the local municipal district council has been told.

The matter was raised at last week's meeting by Cllr Marie Therese Duffy who sought an update on long-awaited works on the plot of land, which is located at the main entrance to the town from Dublin.

“The embankment is an eyesore as traffic sits waiting trying to get in and through town. We want a timeline for the improvement works because it is lying like wasteland there for years now.” 

Cllr John O’Hara agreed it was an eyesore and said he did not know how Ballina got the gold medal for Tidy Towns because of it.

“It was better at least with the trees there but now that the site is lying there derelict, and when you are looking at it in a traffic jam you just think it is a disgrace something isn’t being done.” 

Cllr Annie May Reape said it had been brought to councillors’ attention so much. 

“It is on the entrance to the town and is such an eyesore.” 

She said CIÉ needed to "come up to the mark" to improve it. However, municipal district manager Declan Turnbull clarified that it is actually Mayo County Council which has the licence to do the works there. 

“We hoped to get it started before the end of the year but realistically it will be the beginning of the new year. The actual land is owned by CIE but the council took a licence for that piece of ground from them and will be upgrading it and have set aside money for it. 

"I would expect work to start say in February or March - whenever planting time is - and we will be working with the town gardener to get that done.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.