Greenway from Wexford to Curracloe back on agenda — ‘this would unlock more tourism opportunities for the county’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Every summer without fail the people of Wexford, the wider south-east, and Dublin, converge upon Curracloe in their droves. It only takes a 19℃ day to draw sun-lovers to an amenity which is widely considered to be one of the best beaches not just in Wexford but in the entire country.

However, parking at Curracloe is limited, and even the creation of a shuttle bus and an overflow car park at the Raven Forest has not eradicated the traffic issues at a beach which is located in a rural part of the county and is not designed for huge volumes of visitors during peak season.

One potential solution is a greenway from Wexford town to Curracloe, an alternative option for those who wish to visit the beach while also doing their bit for the environment.

First mooted in the mid 2000s, an application for a greenway was submitted by Wexford County Council (WCC) to An Bord Pleanála (ABP) in 2018. It proposed a three-leg route, the first running from Wexford town to the Wildfowl Reserve, the second to Raven Point, and the third to Curracloe itself.

With a number of special areas of conservation (SAC) and special protection areas (SPA) located within the confines of the Wildfowl Reserve, WCC proposed closing the second leg of the route from September to April so as not to interfere with nesting birds in their natural habitat.

However, despite this, ABP rejected the application for the greenway, stating that it wasn’t “satisfied that the local authority had demonstrated that the proposed development would not adversely affect the integrity” of the Wildfowl Reserve’s “conservation objectives”.

Contending that the increased level of usage by pedestrians/cyclists associated with the greenway would increase human activity and potentially result in the “disturbance and displacement” to birds using intertidal habitats at the Raven SPA, the board said it was “not satisfied that the long term efficacy of the mitigation measures to protect the Greenland white fronted geese and hen harrier populations and other bird species” had been sufficiently demonstrated.

Since that application was rejected the Curracloe greenway has all but disappeared off the agenda with the attention turning to a greenway connecting Wexford town to Rosslare Strand and Harbour. However, Fine Gael Councillor Robbie Staples has argued that the Curracloe project should remain the top priority despite the challenges associated with having it approved.

“I know the council has said the priority is a greenway from Wexford to Rosslare, and I appreciate that, but I believe getting one out to Curracloe would be a lot more beneficial,” he says. “That’s not being disrespectful to anyone in Rosslare, but for me that area is being driven by the port right now and the focus should be on building new schools and houses so the people working in the port have somewhere to live.”

Were a new application for the Curracloe greenway to be submitted it would either follow the original route or “skirt around” the Wildfowl Reserve.

“We could keep leg one and three the same, and there are alternatives for the second leg by skirting the SAC and SPA,” says Cllr Staples. “The problem is you’re dealing with a lot of different landowners and it’s not as an attractive a route. The initial proposal went right by the sea.

“I understand and respect the importance of the SAC and SPAs but I also believe there’s a way we can get around this. If we could get it over the line it would unlock even more tourism opportunities in Wexford. Hotels could rent out bicycles to guests, local businesses could set up shacks along the route, it would generate revenue for the local economy.”

And while any new application may face opposition from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Cllr Staples says the greenway could actually benefit the Wildfowl Reserve and educate the public about the importance of its residents.

“A lot of Wexford people don’t understand the significance of the geese here, but if the greenway was established people could come out and learn about the birds during the winter months when the second leg of the route is closed,” he says.

The ultimate aim, though, is to unlock Curracloe’s full potential, to provide a new tourist attraction for the county, and reduce the number of cars inching their way towards the beach during those hot, balmy days.

“If you want to cycle to Curracloe with your family in the summer you can’t do it, it’s not safe. From a sustainability point of view we don’t want everyone driving there. We don’t have the parking facilities in Curracloe, so it’s about getting people out of their cars and using active travel.”