Group say government has ‘abandoned’ town
THE Drogheda City Status Group has accused the government of abandoning Drogheda and relegating it to ‘ third tier positioning’ in the plan.
The group, which has been campaigning tirelessly for City Status for Drogheda, said the government had failed to publish a ‘credible and sustainable blueprint’ for the next two decades.
A City Status Group spokesman said: ‘In spite of assurances by then Local Government Minister Simon Coveney TD to our committee that the 2040 plan would be evidence based, Drogheda has again found itself cast aside.
‘We had hoped that the Government would have the courage and the determination to provide a realistic blueprint for the country in planning for the future but all they have left us with is a shambles of a document that has bent the knee to various vested, political interests and provided a one for everyone in the audience report that ultimately is completely meaningless,’ the spokesman said.
He said this now leaves the entire north east without a city or regional capital which Drogheda, through its population alone, would justify.
‘We are now officially a third-rate quasi development town,’ he said.
The City Status Group had provided a detailed planning study, based on evidence, pinpointing how Drogheda should be granted City Status under the National Planning Framework (NPF).
The report, from Dr Brian Hughes, a chartered planning and development expert, argued that with a population of 83,000 people, Drogheda urgently required new administrative structures to ensure meaningful planning and coherent development in the years ahead
The Hughes report pointed to the latest census figures which effectively made Drogheda the fifth largest city in the State – larger than Waterford City – and enjoying a population growth rate of 80% between 1996 to 2016.
The report was presented to Government along with a petition with over 3,000 names as its submission under the NPF guidelines.
The spokesman said: ‘We are bitterly disappointed that the expert report we submitted, which detailed how the population rise demanded on economic and planning grounds that Drogheda should be administered locally and not effectively the plaything of local administrations in Louth and Meath, has been disregarded. Our worst fears have been met that once again, when the tough decisions had to be made, an Irish Government has decided to pass the parcel and place a major impediment to the future prosperity of the people of Drogheda.’
‘Foolishly we thought that matters might be different this time. Drogheda was ignored in the 2002 National Spatial Strategy which was designed to develop gateway towns and hubs but ended up being a massive fudge. We have been cast aside again as our political masters have abysmally failed in their duty towards its citizens,’ he said.
Sinn Fein TD Imelda Munster has voiced concern and disappointment that government have once again paid ‘ lip service’ to what Drogheda needs to prosper as the largest town in Ireland. ‘ Third tier recognition on its own has no substance and could well be just an appeasement to ward off any political backlash for government representatives. Designating Drogheda as a 3rd tier growth centre without defining what that actually means in real terms, considering we are already strategically placed and identified as part of the M1 economic corridor of Newry- Dundalk- Drogheda.’