Protect fabric of rural Wexford
talks about goals, but it’s a bit loose when it talks about national and international connectivity, especially via the ports. There is a 10-year element to that plan and there is little enough in that.
‘The caveat is Brexit. Nobody seems to know how it’s going to develop and if we end up with a situation where we have hard borders, and that could happen, Rosslare Europort is going to be a prime connection point to the UK and Europe, but that’s a great unknown.’
While the National Development Plan talks about improving infrastructure in rural areas, Cllr Moore said one of its pronouncements about Wexford, the development of the N11 from Oylegate to Rosslare with pre-planning set for sometime this year, he was chairman of the council seven years ago when corridor was identified to link up with the M11, south of Oylegate.
‘My concern is that after such a gap, it is going to get lost in the traffic for infrastructual developments and we’ve already seen this in plans for the ring road from Rosslare Port,’ he said.
‘Where is the commitment to deal with that? The N11 is hugely important, but equally important is the N25. If you look at the 10-year plan, what is going to happen on the N25 linking Glenmore to Waterford. If we’re talking about Rosslare Port needing access to the east, west and north, we should be looking at these two aspects for connectivity,’ said the mayor.
‘In the national framework document, we’re talking about 2024 and that’s not long when you consider how long we take as a nation to get things done, so I have a concern about that.’
Talking about the regional approach contained with the plan, Cllr Moore said ‘we can be very parochial. France for example has a regional approach that works and we should emulate that. It is time to create a regional port authority using the skills that are already here that would manage the ports in the region – Rosslare, Belview and New Ross, that’s an approach that could work.
‘Rosslare and Waterford are not in competition and we need to move away from that if we want to talk seriously about regional development,’ he said. Despite this, Cllr Moore said Wexford’s own €40 million development, that sits in the national framework, is critical.
‘I think we are better placed than a lot of other counties in the region to drive economic development and I’m looking to our own plan to do that.
‘The main framework is a 20-year vision.. what are the objectives and how are we going to achieve them.
‘The other big problem here is rural side. How are we going to deal with growth and development for rural areas which cannot expand without infrastructure. We’ve failed to address that problem for a number of years, particularly with water and waste water.
‘If you want to have a vibrant rural community, what plan are you going to put in place.. what are the challenges. The plan is out there now, we need to start poking holes in it to see what can be done.’