PORT ACCESS ROUTE MUST BE A PRIORITY
Louth County Council has been called on to provide a report on how the Port Access Northern Cross Route (PANCR) on the north side of town can be delivered through expected developer contributions/levies based on the planning permissions granted for developments along the PANCR.
The issue was raised in a notice of motion by Councillor Kenneth Flood who asked the council to submit such a report.
‘ The reason for this motion is there were 7,000 houses ten years ago that were depending on this piece of infrastructure. The only real set in stone condition was that these houses could not go ahead until this was in place.’
He said ten years on, he has a ‘real fear’ that these houses will be built without this in place.
‘We cannot continue to build without the infrastructure to support it,’ he said. ‘ That condition was put in place for a reason. We need to explore our funding options.’
Councillor Frank Godfrey said progress has been made by Louth County Council with regards the road but said this was ‘at a snail’s pace’.
‘ The PANCR must be a priority of this council. we need ways to get traffic out of the centre of town. The congestion is unbelieveable.’
Councillor Oliver Tully said he had been raising the need for this route for a number of years and welcomed the fact that other people were trying to highlight the issue too.
He said the supplement scheme brought in ten years ago designed to fund the PANCR was subsequently dissolved and a lot of the planning permissions granted were for five to ten years and some have subsequently looked for extensions.
‘If we could have the revised contribution scheme as quickly as possible so funding can be secured as these projects come on stream,’ he said.
Councillor Oliver Tully asked that the council write to the Minister and say the land is zoned, there is a need there. He said the council should write requesting a fund be set up to help progress this. ‘We did receive some funding last year and it did open up some land but we need to open up more of the land involved,’ he said.
In response to the motion, Louth County Council said it has purchased the land required over the past number of years for the PANCR which is a long term capital project and an objective of the development plan.
‘As the members are aware in approving the revised Development Contribution Scheme 2016-2021, the Supplementary Development Contribution Scheme created to fund the PANCR was dissolved.
It added: ‘However, many of the 10 year permissions granted in the area, which initially would have funded the PANCR through the Supplementary Contribution Scheme, are about to expire, and are now subject to the revised Contribution Scheme. This will affect the timely delivery
of the project. Any future development contributions received may be used to fund the PANCR.’
Speaking following the meeting, Cllr Flood said: ‘Every resident of Drogheda knows that the PANCR is a vital piece of infrastructure needed to take the heavy goods vehicles out of our town centre and to alleviate the traffic congestion.’ He said he was dissatisfied with the response he received to the motion.