Fianna Fáil councillor defends active travel allocation for north Mayo

A FIANNA Fáil councillor in north Mayo has defended the allocation of Active Travel funding for the Ballina region saying it was doing very well.

The was a conflict of opinion between party colleagues, Cllr Michael Loftus and Cllr Annie May Reape over the amount of funding for Active Travel projects in north Mayo.

Active Travel funding allocated for the Ballina Municipal District included €450,000 for the construction of a Safe Route to School project at Carn National School in Moygownagh.

Speaking at the January meeting of the Ballina Municipal District, Cllr Loftus welcomed the funding for local projects but questioned how much was going to north Mayo compared to Westport and Castlebar.

“The majority of it seemed to be spent up the road in Castlebar and Westport and a lot of it is in that area. No disrespect but we really need to get more active travel people down here,” Cllr Loftus told the meeting.

However his party colleague, Cllr Annie May Reape defended the level of funding going to the Ballina region and thanked the local TD Minister Dara Calleary for his support of local projects.

“In fairness lots of money is spent in Ballina and you can't be giving out about our own ministers who are doing their best. When the application goes in the money will be spent but if the applications don't go in you won't get the money and that is the bottom line. In fairness we are doing very well in Ballina,” she said.

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Senior engineer, Orla Bourke also defended the level of funding coming into the municipal district claiming it was on par with what was going to Castlebar and Westport.

“In terms of the financial spread I don't think we are disadvantaged. We have huge expectations but the local transport plan and active travel is a positive and ambitious plan but we are getting the money quite slowly,” she commented.

Cllr Loftus had earlier brought a motion calling on the Council to put an Active Travel Plan in place for Crossmolina as soon as possible.

In a response, Mayo County Council stated that a transportation study to encompass active travel, public transportation and road and traffic measures is being undertaken by Mayo County Council and it is anticipated that the study will be completed this year.

Cllr Loftus welcomed this saying that an active travel plan for Crossmolina is something that he has been asking for for quite a while.

Bonniconlon-based councillor John O'Hara called for an active travel plan to be put in place in Bonniconlon because funding for proposed projects in the village were withheld by the department. He said there was no pedestrian crossing in the village and something had to be done to improve the safety of people living there.