Westport want NRA news

NRA not welcome without positive news for Westport

Anton McNulty

THE NRA delegation due to meet with members of Westport Town Council in February have been told they will not be welcome if they have nothing positive to bring to the meeting.
Officials from the regional office of the NRA are due to meeting with councillors and town officials in February and it is hoped they will give an update on the time-scale for the N5 road from Castlebar to Westport and the Westport relief road. However, councillors warned them that they did not want any ‘wishy-washy’ timeline and they did not want it to turn into a stalling tactic.
Cllr Peter Flynn said unless the NRA came with some positive information which would give a definite plan they were wasting their time.
“We don’t want any wishy-washy, might-be timeline. We want a definite plan for the relief road and the Castlebar to Westport road and for them to tell us exactly that the plan for the road will not be moved again, which is key to the future development. They should not come with some new fairytale story and if they do, it will be a waste of time,” he said.
Mr Peter Hynes, Town Manager, explained that the new plans for the N5 from Bohola was for it to be upgraded to a dual-carriageway. He added that the N5 would come on-stream after the completion of the Major Inter-Urban routes and he hoped consultants would be appointed before Christmas, and would be in a position to give an update and time-scale at the February meeting.
However some councillors were concerned that with the continued delays in the time-scale for the N5, it would mean it will be ‘leapfrogged’ by other projects. The Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council, Cllr Declan Dever queried why the Bohola to Castlebar section of the N5 needed to be upgraded because he considered it a good road in comparison with the Westport to Castlebar road, and felt it was only a stalling tactic.
Cllr Brendan Mulroy said the Council had wasted enough time discussing routes and they would need a lot of convincing to trust what the NRA have to say.