Works at Westport Quay will start next winter

Works at Westport Quay will start next winter


Áine Ryan
aineryan@mayonews.ie

INITIAL works for the upgrade and development of Westport Quay are projected to start next winter, after the completion of a Part 8 planning process, The Mayo News can confirm.
Town Architect, Simon Wall, said yesterday that the design for the works, which includes the upgrade of pathways from the Towers pub to the gates of Westport House, was already at the halfway stage.
“We hope to go to the Public Consultation stage during the summer months and then bring it before the town council in the autumn for approval. We should then be ready to start work in the winter,” Mr Wall said.
At a public meeting two months ago Mr Wall outlined both short-term and long-term plans for the Quay area, which, he said, had significantly benefitted from the Celtic Tiger era, and in the aftermath by the development of the Greenway.
He revealed that other ideas proposed for the medium and long-term were an open-air  amphitheatre, a proper boat parking facility, the dredging of the harbour and building of a breakwater for a marina,  the creation of a lagoon,  a beach and a cycleway.
“In essence we must re-establish the integral relationship between Westport Quay and the ocean,” Mr Wall said at the public meeting.
Afterwards local business operator, Kieran Harrington, stressed the importance of a concrete time-frame for this project and urged that the pathways upgrade be completed before the summer tourism season.

HAVE YOUR SAY email aineryan@mayonews.ie with your comments