Long-awaited Tipperary greenway project officially shelved
Plans for a greenway linking Ballina and Dromineer in Tipperary have been shelved, with a council official saying the project cannot be delivered in its current form.
Plans for a greenway linking the towns of Ballina and Dromineer along the River Shannon have been in the offing for many years.
The walkway would see a 24-kilometre walking and cycle track built, which would open both towns up to an increased number of tourists, as well as creating access to other tourist attractions in the area.
At the March meeting of Tipperary County Council, Fine Gael councillor Phyll Bugler asked if there was any update on the long-awaited project.
"Is there any update on the greenway for Ballina?” Cllr Bugler asked.
"Is the project still going ahead?” she questioned.
A representative of the council’s roads section said that after examining a number of options for the planned walkway, no potential route is feasible to deliver.
"There isn’t really an update on the Ballina greenway except that our management report states the project is unlikely to progress in its current form,” Cllr Bugler was told.
"There doesn’t appear to be a solution, we don’t have a consultant working on it, it’s going to sit there and we’re not going to do anything on it. We have six greenways to progress, this one is going to be parked,” the roads representative said.
Appealing for some solution to be found, Cllr Bugler said that the project would be a positive addition to her district.
"Is there any way at all we could even get part of it done? Since we put in the new bridge in Ballina, there’s a huge amount of cycling going ahead, and walking between the two bridges, it would be a great addition for the tourism of the town, is there even parts of it that could be delivered?
"Even if people could cycle it with electric bikes, people could even get up a little bit of the slope, or if we even went parallel to the old Lough Derg walkway. I know it’s a big ask, but it would be a different kind of a greenway,” Cllr Bugler said.
Responding to the Fine Gael councillor, the roads engineer said that the problem lies at the Ballina side of the proposed route and that no solution had been found.
"The challenge is at the Ballina side, I can’t see how you can connect a greenway to it without taking out people’s front lawns and driveways and farmyards,” he said.