Claims delay in bringing footpath to West Mayo site is holding up housing development

The absence of a footpath to service two sites in west Mayo is delaying the potential development of close to 200 houses in Westport according to local councillors. 

A site located along the Lodge Road at Monamore near Westport has been identified as a location for housing by a private developer while another site has been earmarked as a potential location for affordable housing.

However, the sites are not yet serviced with a footpath to the town centre which is a contingent for any possible planning approval as set out by the Westport Local Area Plan.

The matter was raised at the monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District after it was claimed that it could be three years before the footpaths are delivered under the Active Travel scheme.

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Westport councillor Brendan Mulroy, along with the new Cathaoirleach of the municipal district, Cllr Peter Flynn said this was too long a wait at a time of a housing crisis. Cllr Mulroy suggested that Mayo County Council consider taking out a loan to allow the municipal district to deliver the footpath themselves.

“We should consider taking a loan out and getting a footpath into town. [The absence of a] footpath on the Lodge road is holding up two housing developments. We also have a housing estate with a hell of a lot of young people and they want to get to the town safely and a greenway is part and parcel of that. I would ask the council executive to take out a loan to speed up and allow us to do our own thing,” he said.

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Earlier, Cathy Mellet, Senior Executive Engineer with responsibility for Active Travel in Mayo County Council said that funding was in place for a programme in the area and they hoped to appoint consultants to work on the scheme before the end of the year.

When asked by Cllr Flynn how long this would take before going to construction, Ms Mellett said it would take at least 12 to 16 months.

Cllr Flynn said that people looking for housing could not afford to wait that long for a footpath and he made it one of his priorities in his year as Cathaoirleach. 

“If we found the funding to build a footpath on the Lodge Road and let's assume there is co-operation with the landowners, is there any difficulty if we did our own footpath? We just cannot wait four years for 200 houses on the back of a footpath. It is critical, so can we plough on with our own footpath,” Cllr Flynn said.

In response, Ms Mellett said that she had to adhere to the project approval guidelines from the NTA who provide the funding and admitted it is time consuming as they do not have the staffing resources.

Cllr Flynn said it was ironic that one section of the local authority has the money but not the staff while another section has staff but no money.

“It is crazy and that is a situation which we are facing right now. A section which is fully funded but doesn't have people and a section which is reasonably well staffed and hasn't the money to do anything. There is something seriously wrong with the system and there needs to be a serious look at the NTA and active travel process,” the Fine Gael councillor concluded.