Sligo needs to ensure 2040 status not unpicked

SLIGO has work to do to ensure it actually becomes a Regional Centre for growth not just in name only.

Councillor Chris MacManus called for a working committee to be set up at last week’s Council meeting.

He said Sligo didn’t have the same status announced in Project Ireland 2040 as Galway or Waterford but our status as Regional Centre for growth shouldn’t be seen “as an end in itself.”

“We have work to do. Nothing is written in stone. How do we bring this to the next level?” he said.

“We need to have an entity that will bring all the stakeholders together and engage with all the groups as needs be,” he said.

“The County Council is the only body with a statutory democratic mandate to ensure that when the Spatial Economic Strategy is being put together Sligo is not forgotten,” he added.

Council Chief Executive Ciarán Hayes said the Council was “to the forefront in the delivery of the National Planning Framework.”

“The Corporate Policy group will be to the fore from here on in,” he said.

Cllr MacManus said he wanted to ensure Sligo’s future status was not “unpicked.”