Land buy-up for £18m motorway

March 1995

One of north Wicklow’s most controversial road plans is to forge ahead this month with the launch of a massive programme of land acquisition by the local authority.

More than 100 compulsory purchase orders are to be served by Wicklow county council on over 70 local landowners over the coming weeks, as the authority set about acquiring more than 50 acres of land which are required for the multi-million pound M11 extension between Kilmacanogue and Glen of the Downs.

A Euro-funded project which has been costed at £18 million, the service of CPOs follows a lengthy period of discussions and negotiations between council officials and property owners along the five kilometre route of the planned improvement works.

One of the single most expensive road building schemes ever to be undertaken in north Wicklow, the scheme faced bitter opposition on a number of fronts when it was first mooted close to a decade ago.

But while outspoken critics of the scheme remain in Kilmacanogue where there is opposition to a motorway running through the village, campaigners who opposed original plans for the road through Glen of the Downs on environmental grounds have been largely appeased by design modifications through the protected woodland nature reserve.

The completion of the compulsory purchase process is expected to take up to six months, with CPO recipients having 21 days from service of the notices to lodge any objections with the Department of the Environment.

Minister Brendan Howlin will then arrange a local public inquiry and hearing for all parties, following which the assessment of compensation claims will be held.

The Kilmacanogue/Glen of the Downs project is one of two massive road building projects currently under way within County Wicklow.

A vast programme of land acquisition involving over 250 acres was recently completed by Wicklow County Council in advance of the £40 million Arklow By-Pass Project.