NEW CRIES FOR DROGHEDA TO BECOME A CITY
Study shows 83,000 population meets EU criteria
CITY status should be granted to our largest town, a report said yesterday.
The study showed the latest census figures give the Greater Drogheda Area a population of more than 83,000, making it twice the size of Co Longford and larger than Waterford city.
It includes the borough of Drogheda plus the surrounding towns of Mornington, Bettystown and Laytown.
Planning expert Dr Brian Hughes, who wrote the report, said it meets EU criteria due to its population per kilometre and overall count of more than 50,000 people.
The report was commissioned by Drogheda City Status group which has been campaigning for longer than a decade to end the “nightmare” dual administration of the town and its growing satellite communities.
It has been submitted for inclusion in the Government’s National Planning Framework which will guide decisions up to 2040.
The report has been given to former housing minister Simon Coveney.
However, the group claimed it was “stood up” by the current minister Eoghan Murphy when he cancelled a meeting at Leinster House last Thursday.
PLANNING
Chairman Vincent Hoey said: “We are living in an urban conglomeration of over 80,000 people but we have no effective joined-up thinking to plan sensibly for the future because our local government is divided between Co Meath and Co Louth.
“Drogheda lost its town council and we urgently need to be given city status so we can have a city council that can best plan for the sustainable future growth of the region, provide housing, create jobs and nurture business.”
Dr Hughes added: “The Belfast Dublin economic corridor is growing at a major pace.
“Drogheda, thanks to its air, motorway, sea and rail links, is growing faster than anywhere else along this corridor.
“But we look like we are going to repeat the sins of the past by not providing practical, administrative urban districts.
“[The Government] have the evidence in this report. They need to act and act now.”