WALKWAY WILL CONNECT CASTLE TO TOWN PARK

WORK is set to commence next Monday on a dedicated walkway connecting Mallow Town Park to the Castle grounds.

Last autumn Cork Country Council sanctioned funding of €130,000 for the project following a joint application from the authority and the Avondhu Blackwater Partnership under the 2016 Rural Recreation Scheme.

The funding represented the largest single investment of the 75 projects around the country that were allocated money under the 2016 scheme.

The Mallow project, which will take in the region of eightweeks to complete, will see works undertaken along a 1.9km stretch of the Avondhu-Blackwater Way from the park running eastwards along the River Blackwater to the Castle grounds.

These will include the provision of new concrete paths, the upgrading of existing paths and the installation of two new footbridges.

The CEO of the Avondhu Blackwater Partnership, Valerie Murphy, said the project was part of a wider plan of investment in walking and rural recreational facilities in Mallow and the wider north Cork region.

She said it would complement the recently unveiled Mallow ‘Neighbourwood’ project that will entail the development of a 25-acre woodland from the grounds of Mallow Castle along the River Blackwater to Lover’s Leap.

“We are delighted that work will be getting underway on the walkway, which will be an important element of an overall plan that will bring huge benefits to the local community and attract visitors to the town,” said Ms Murphy.

James Fogarty, Divisional Manager with Cork County Council, which purchased the 24-acre park from the Jephson family for just over €1 million in2015, said the walkway was a key element in the overall plan for the development of local amenities in Mallow.

The chair of the council’s Kanturk/Mallow Municipal District committee, Cllr Timmy Collins, also welcomed the walkway, which he said was just one of a number of partnerships being undertaken by the authority in conjunction with other local development bodies.