€20m Tipperary link road project welcomed by councillors — ‘One of the biggest announcements in years’
A €20 million investment in two new link roads for Clonmel, expected to unlock land for more than 1,200 homes, has been described as one of the biggest announcements for the town in years.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Clonmel is set to benefit from a €20million investment into two link roads around the town, which will unlock land for housing.
Clonmel’s Link Road project has been included in the first round of the Government’s new housing infrastructure investment fund (HIIF), approved by Housing Minister James Browne.
Under the first call of the fund, Clonmel will benefit from investment in Link Road Phase 1, connecting the Cashel Road at the Longfield Estate to the Fethard Road and Phase 2, extending from the L689 Fethard Road to the L3623 Carrigeen Business Park.
At the June meeting of the Clonmel Borough District, Fine Gael councillor John Fitzgerald welcomed the news, while fellow Fine Gael councillor Tom Acheson said the announcement was one of the “biggest announcements for Clonmel in a long, long time”.
“I know our town manager, John, in particular put in a huge amount of work, and the other staff in prepping the town and prepping the applications for that funding,” Cllr Acheson said.
“The development of those two link roads will open up a huge amount of land for potential housing development, and they also have the potential to take some pressure off the Clonmel Bypass.
“If you use the Fethard Road, and you realise where people actually go, it’ll take a lot of pressure off the bypass. I believe we’re going to progress very quickly to the design stage of that, and that’s really welcome news,” Cllr Acheson added.
Councillor Pat English also welcomed the news, saying that south Tipperary’s three TDs helped to get the project across the line.
“I want to thank everyone involved, especially our three Oireachtas members, they did an awful lot of work in the background and I’m looking forward to the design stage. The funding is the main thing, so if we ringfence the funding on that, it’s great,” Cllr English said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Siobhán Ambrose said that the town was “very fortunate” that the proposed link roads will have a dual purpose.
“Many will recall that these two link roads were shown as part of the plans for the N24, but under this new fund (the HIIF), the council applied for the two link roads to support housing and access to landbanks,” Cllr Ambrose said.
“Alone with council lands, you’ll see the rollout of up to 1,200 homes, and this isn’t taking into account private lands along this section of these new link roadways.
“Not alone is it going to help in particular the young people trying to get on the housing ladder, but it’s also going to take some of the congestion from all of the vehicles coming down both the Cashel and Fethard roads,” the Fianna Fáil councillor added.