'Disgust' as rural West Waterford left out in Active Travel funding

‘I am absolutely disgusted and extremely disappointed’ said councillor John Pratt in relation to the Active Travel funding allocated to rural West Waterford.

Several councillors sitting on the Dungarvan Lismore District Council echoed the sentiment last week after the Dungarvan Lismore District was allocated €2 million from an €11 million total pot for Waterford, despite the council seeking €18 million initially.

The majority of the schemes funded under the National Transport Authority (NTA) scheme were also of urban areas, rather than smaller rural towns and villages.

“We’re all here, we’re one Waterford, we represent Waterford City and County but that to me is just not right. It’s just not good enough," Cllr Pratt said.

“It’s time now that we write once again to the department and we make a song and dance about this and ask that they look at it and re-look at it. There are going to be elections in rural Waterford as well and there are going to be people from the rural area voting in the next election as well and I hope that they can put pressure back on to ensure that that funding and that decision is reversed,” he stated.

One scheme in particular, which sought works for Chapel Street in Tallow to make it one-way and improve the overall appearance of the area, while improving and widening footpaths and undergrounding cables, was not funded.

CLAIMS OF 'DISCRIMINATION'

Cllrs John Pratt, Mairead Tobin and Declan Doocey each spoke out on this issue at the recent meeting of the Dungarvan Lismore District.

Labour councillor, Thomas Phelan, who had previously requested that the council write to the Minister expressing their dissatisfaction with the allocated funding, called for a meeting with the Minister for the Environment and the NTA on the matter.

Pointing to how the majority funded schemes were in more urban areas with larger populations, Cllr Declan Doocey described it as ‘ discrimination’ against smaller populations.

“You can’t discriminate against a smaller population if there is merit in a plan and especially if it is needed. Chapel St in Tallow is a typical example of lunacy in not doing it. It’s just not big enough for the heavy traffic. It should definitely be made oneway and I would even go further and ban three or two-axle trucks,” Cllr Doocey said.

Senior Engineer Gabriel Hynes acknowledged that the schemes which were not funded tended to be rural schemes.

“We could only work with the allocation that we have been given and unfortunately with the rural schemes it means we will have to wait and we will certainly reapply again next year and I would be hopeful that some of those would receive funding,” he said.