BY KATE HEANEY
COUNCILLORS on Monday agreed to defer a decision on approving the new active travel pedestrian and cycle path from the Hospital Roundabout to Knocknamona after it emerged emergency services were concerned about how it might affect their access.
The full council meeting shared concerns that current consultation methods with affected parties were not working properly.
The approval must happen before the end of the April to protect the funding and Cllr Ciaran Brogan suggested the Letterkenny MD members meet to discuss concerns expressed by the National Ambulance Service immediately.
“As traffic volumes go, nowhere else in the county has as much traffic as this area. We will have the new Community Hospital, a larger Errigal College, Little Angels so we must look for a solution to accommodate everyone,” Cllr Brogan said.
Cllr Kevin Bradley expressed the view that this was a vital piece of road infrastructure and they needed to take their time to ensue it was
right.
Cllr Gerry McMonagle suggested they hold the Letterkenny MD member meeting “today” adding “we have discussed this on a number of occasions and on site”.
Cllr Donal Coyle told the meeting he would have strong concerns about access to the hospital for emergency services adding not enough thought has gone into this.
“Active travel is a very good idea but we must take into consideration the narrowing roads to such an extent it does impede a lot of drivers,” Cllr Coyle added.
Cllr Michael McBride told the meeting it was “a stretch of road we cannot get wrong”.
Cllr Liam Blaney told the meeting the fire service were not aware of the proposed development and the ambulance service only found out about it the previous week.
“Anyone affected needs to be consulted face-to-face,” he added.
Cllr Patrick McGowan acknowledging he was not part of Letterkenny explained that while the Castlefinn greenway was a great addition it had lead to traffic difficulties accessing Emmet Park, saying: “Letterkenny is much more serious”.
Cllrs Donal Mandy Kelly spoke of the need for further meetings while Cllr Jimmy Kavanagh said meetings need to take place with the emergency services affected and then with the councillors.
Director of Services Bryan Cannon said the active travel route under discussion was one of ten in Letterkenny approved before Christmas.
“All services were consulted on the proposals and were directly written to and discussions were held with staff from the hospital.
“There is a time restriction on Part 8 funding so we will accommodate the meeting of Letterkenny councillors today,” he added.
Cllr Brogan added that he was being “very diplomatic” about the consultation process, saying relevant people were not “properly consulted”.
“We were given assurances about ambulance journeys on the four lane project and now there are issues for ambulances there,” he concluded.
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