COUNCIL PREPARING TENDER FOR DUNGARVAN/ MALLOW GREENWAY FEASIBILITY STUDY
Tender document preparations are underway for a feasibility study on the development of a Greenway in West Waterford, the City and County Council heard during the week.
A query put forward by local councillor John Pratt, requested an update on the progress being made on the extension of the greenway from Dungarvan and into county Cork.
Director of Services, Economic Development and Planning, Michael Quinn informed those present (virtually) that the council are progressing in parallel with their counterparts in Cork and are currently finalising tender documents for a feasibility study.
“The feasibility piece is particularly important because we need to gauge the willingness and uptake of landowners and interest in the particular project as much as the engineering practicality of it, but it is progressing in parallel with Cork,” Director
Quinn said.
In July of 2020, €4.5 million in funding was allocated for 26 greenway projects, providing support for feasibility, planning and design for greenways around the country.
The announcement included a number of projects designed to feed into the success of the Waterford Greenway, and project plans included €160,000 made available to Cork and Waterford councils in total, to examine a 39km route linking Mallow to Dungarvan via Fermoy and Ballyduff.
On the Cork county side, this is towards a 39.15km section from Mallow/Youghal to Ballyduff, with the Waterford allocation for a 38.5km section from Dungarvan to the Cork County boundary, west of Ballyduff Upper. Work on a €19.8 million greenway from Midleton-Youghal is already underway in East Cork and a possible link up with that to the Dungarvan-Ballyduff section may yet be on the cards.
PROGRESS
In November 2020, news emerged at the Cork County Northern Committee meeting that a brief was being prepared to engage consultants to undertake a feasibility report for the development of the Mallow to Dungarvan route.
Following a request from Cllr William O’Leary for an up to date position or progress report on the feasibility study, Executive Engineer Finbarr Jones informed the council that a consultant could be appointed in quarter 1 of 2021 and the feasibility report issued in quarter 4 of 2021 or 2022.
The brief is being prepared by Cork County Council in collaboration with Waterford City and County Council, with the councils meeting on the Cork and Waterford boundary near Ballyduff.
The greenway is expected to be situated along the corridor of the former railway line and the feasibility report will examine the existing infrastructure, identify route options and recommend a preferred route along with a constraints report on the preferred route.
The proposed route could see Castletownroche, Ballyhooly, Fermoy, Clondulane and Ballyduff areas benefit from a potential boost in tourism and development.