Council and golf club reach agreement on piece of ground
A DEAL between Wicklow County Council and Wicklow Golf Club is imminent which will pave the way for the development of the cliff walk.
Speaking at last week’s meeting of Wicklow Municipal District senior executive engineer Paul Byrne told the members that the council had been in talks with the golf club for the past couple of months.
‘We have reached an agreement in principal about a land transfer agreement where Wicklow County Council will take ownership of a strip of land along the coast. We will secure the land with fencing.
‘Both the council and Wicklow Golf Club are very happy with the agreement and we are hoping to get a land disposal notice ready for the September meeting of the full council.
‘Then we will be in a great position to use the €76,000 which we have been allocated before the end of the year. It’s good news for all involved.’
Cllr Gail Dunne said the development of the cliff walk will reap great benefits for the town in terms of tourism and commended the council and the golf club for the hard work that had gone into the project.
‘This [the cliff walk] could be the jewel in the crown of Wicklow. It’s a gorgeous walk. We really need this. There’s gorgeous scenery there and a beautiful outlook. If we can tap into this tourism aspect it will be very special.’
Cllr John Snell said a great amount of unseen work had been done by both parties and he commended everyone for this.
‘Stuff like this doesn’t happen overnight. It’s been a bone of contention for year. This is a tremendous day for Wicklow and the county to see this resolved. It’s fantastic. It will be great to see works being undertaken here.’
Cllr Shay Cullen said ‘it had been a great day’s work, well done.
‘We have to commend the golf club because without its support this wouldn’t have happened. It also wouldn’t happen without funding’, he said asking if the available funding would be used for the fencing and to upgrade the path.
Mr Byrne said that was the plan. ‘The sooner the better we get started and get it open to the point where it can be used’, said Cllr Cullen.
Cllr Mary Kavanagh, a member of the golf club, said the golf club in Wicklow was quite small and ‘know how valuable each strip of land is’ to the members. She said she had been speaking to some people who were concerned that the funding might be lost if works didn’t start on site before the end of the year.
Cllr Daire Nolan said it had been ‘a Herculean project to get over the line and it will be a great benefit to the town’. CLLR Gail Dunne expressed concerns that the IDA is ignoring Wicklow.
Cllr Dunne said that there had been a meeting with the members and the IDA in June.
He said the discussion had focused on Greystones, Arklow and Bray where the IDA had land banks. ‘I asked about Wicklow but I was totally ignored. It was very disappointing. I want to know that if as a Municipal District we are not attracting job I want to know what we can do to remedy that.
‘I think we should invite the IDA to our municipal meeting to find out how we can make Wicklow more attractive for jobs. We seem to be a commuter town. If we are doing something wrong I’d like to know. Why are we being ignored in East Wicklow?’
Cllr John Snell said the council needed to identify what land banks it has.