Rural Sligo councillors not happy as Sligo town gets bulk of funding
RURAL councillors in Sligo have raised their ire at the way in which most of the funding for Active Travel Schemes goes to Sligo town with little or none of the monies allocated going to rural parts of the county.
Asking his local council to provide a report on plans for future Active Travel Schemes which will go ahead in 2024 and others in 2025, Cllr Michael Clarke said he thought it was almost “futile” for him to be putting down motions “it's very disheartening, we are just constantly ignored. Sligo town gets the bulk of the money, we in rural Sligo just don't seem to matter,” he said.
He said the reports for plans for Active Travel underline his view that Sligo is getting the bulk of the money.
Cllr Thomas Walsh said that while the money being allocated for Active Travel was welcome, he too felt he was putting down motions and was not getting answers that “our communities in the areas we represent do not accept”. He added: “That's disappointing.”
He cited as an example work required to provide a footpath at Castle Dargan. A simple job, it has been on the cards for the last ten years but has not happened.
He said he would be seeking a detailed breakdown on where the Active Travel money for Sligo was going.
He went on to claim that €200,000 had been spent on consultancy work for a project that as yet has not gone to tender.
“If we're doing this, we're doing something wrong,” he added.
Cllr Dónal Gilroy said the plans for ACtive Travel projects were akin to a “gaping hole” as far as north Sligo was concerned.
“Really, we're the forgotten land. I feel Cllr Clarke's pain, but we too seem to be completely left out,” he added.
Cllr Paul Taylor said Active Travel was a “game changer” for Sligo town with the amount of work that will be done, but for the people he represents in Gurteen and its environs, his area got “peanuts”.
On consultants and what they were paid he added: “I guarantee you, I could spend half a million easily in the village I live in right now and there wouldn't be a need for one cent to be spent on a consultant. Our area engineers would be well capable of doing that work.
“We keep coming asking for a few pounds for this and that, is there anything that can be done?” he asked.
Martin Lydon, CE, said as an executive they had to follow the prescribed listings given to them from the various funding departments to be able to avail of the funding. I wish it was wider on Active Travel, believe me I do, but we are working within the parameters that were given to us by the Department of Transport, that's the way it is, we have very few options in relation to that.”
Cllr Taylor: “I know the town [Sligo] has to progress, but can we not extend some of the other schemes to rural areas to balance the scales.”