Active Travel in Mayo is ‘broken’ says Westport councillor

THE process of implementing Active Travel Schemes in Mayo is ‘broken’ according to a Westport councillor after it was revealed that €4.1 million was spent over three years implementing 900 metres of Active Travel measures in the county.

Westport-based Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn was scathing of his criticism of the Active Travel programme in Mayo which he said was not delivering for the county with funding going to consultants to design ‘a simple piece of work’.

The monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District heard yesterday (Monday) that despite planning being given for the Active Travel project at Deerpark in Westport in the summer, consultants have yet to be appointed and are not expected to be completed until the end of 2026.

The project will run for approximately150 metres along the Newport Road and according to Cllr Flynn will cost around €1.5 million. He questioned the need to appoint consultants to carry out the design work when council engineers could do it.

‘Crazy stuff’

“WHY we need a consultant I don’t know because knowing the engineers we have in our council team I have no clue why we need a consultant. That will have to go through the tender process and they are expecting at the earliest this to be completed by the end of next year. We are talking 18 months from the date we approved Part 8 to get traffic calming, pedestrian crossing and a footpath on something between 100 and 150 metres. It is crazy stuff.

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“What is even worse is that it is going to cost in the region of €1.5 million. Honestly if this was done through the municipal district and the team here it would be done for probably about 30 to 40 percent of the cost. This whole Active Travel process is so broken,” he told the meeting.

Active Travel is a government-funded programme that creates infrastructure to encourage walking, cycling, and other non-motorised forms of travel. These schemes are delivered by local authorities and are part of the national strategy to make communities healthier and more sustainable, with a goal of increasing walking and cycling journeys. Projects include building segregated cycle lanes, widening footpaths, and adding pedestrian crossings.

The Deerpark project will consist of the construction of a new footpath on the northern side of the N59 between Deerpark East and Cedar Hill, and the widening of the existing shared active travel facility on the southern side between Pinewoods and King’s Hill.

Two new raised zebra crossings on the N59 are proposed along with another at the King’s Hill junction and an upgrade of the existing raised crossing in Pinewoods.

‘Damning’ report

Cllr Flynn also raised a ‘damning’ report by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) on key performance indicators which he said showed that between 2023 and 2024, €4.1 million was spent on Active Travel in Mayo on 0.9km of Active Travel measures.

“Can we really try to explain that to anyone,” he asked. “That is not the fault of anyone around this table because this is the process brought in by the Department of Transport, by our government and ministers and TDs who agreed to this daft Active Travel process which all its doing is slowing things down and creating massive bills for the tax payer to absorb and it is not acceptable.

“To think that 150m is going to cost €1.5 million and how do you explain that to a lay person in terms of a simple piece of work. If something happens between now and 2027 who will be held responsible? It will be the councillors around the table who will be getting the phone calls from the media. It really is frustrating,” he said.

The LGMA report, according to Cllr Flynn, also outlined that between 2022 to 2024, 42 social houses in Mayo were retrofitted compared to 523 over the same period in Donegal.

“It is a serious indictment of how poorly we have failed to retrofit social housing. There is something seriously wrong

“It is a damning report of where active travel is and where the council is in terms of retrofitting houses,” he said.

The Cathaoirleach of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District was supported by Independent Ireland councillor Chris Maxwell who said there is no need for consultants to carry out this work and there was a ‘great team’ within the council who could do it.