Progress on safety project is ‘nothing short of pathetic’

Progress under the Safe Routes to School Programme in Mayo has been "nothing short of pathetic", according to a local councillor.

Fine Gael Cllr Peter Flynn made his comments after a presentation to members of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District last week by Mayo County Council senior engineer Cathy Mellett who had explained that the programme was added to the council's Active Travel brief in 2021 and 51 schools in Mayo are currently in it. The initiative was developed to improve the safety of children going to school and to encourage walking and cycling. However, it can take a while to complete the various projects as the programme is carried out in a series of rounds.

“A lot of schools have still not applied and until all schools currently on the programme are dealt with, we won’t know if additional schools will be eligible," Ms Mellett explained.

In terms of an annual allocation of around €3 million, she said the money has not been spent each year. She outlined work in hand on projects at national schools in the municipal district, including Brackloon, Murrisk, Srah and Carrowteige, and along the Newport Road in Westport, tying in with the Deerpark and Greenway Active Travel works.

Cllr Chris Maxwell said a "very dangerous" situation applies at Louisburgh National School as the road to the village is too narrow.

"Is there a timeline we could hope for a project and is there an alternative source of funding to help alleviate the situation until we get on the Active Travel programme?” 

Cathaoirleach Cllr Flynn told Ms Mellett: “Since 2021 delivery has been nothing short of pathetic. You showed 12 to 24 months as the average timeline, but in reality, we are talking four years for anything, as with the Newport Road/Deerpark project and it really is not acceptable. This is all down to the process the National Transport Authority (NTA) have in place and the amount of consultancy involved is just criminal. I don’t understand why our own people aren’t involved from the start for more streamlined 18-month projects.” 

Noting the six schools from the district on the programme, Cllr Flynn further stated: “This all started in 2021 and still we haven’t delivered one foot of the programme. I acknowledge the council is under-resourced, but these schemes are fully funded, and it is not acceptable that monies are not being drawn down after being allocated.” Ms Mellett stated that decisions on school projects to work on are made by An Taisce and the NTA and not the council and said no money was being handed back, but rather, there were delays in drawing down allocations due to staff shortages.

In relation to Louisburgh, she said Active Travel was very aware of the situation and had been in talks with the principal there, adding: “No decision has been made as to how to extend the Safe Routes programme if they are not already on it. That will be a decision of the Department of Education.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.