A Carlow councillor says it’s “unthinkable” that he and his colleagues weren’t consulted about latest plans for the county.
‘Active travel’ submissions, including applications for new cycle tracks and walkways, were revealed by council officials at their meeting this week.
However, many elected members were upset that they hadn’t been asked for their own input about what amenities were needed in their area.
Among them was Cllr Brian O’Donoghue, who says they were bypassed in this process, telling KCLR News “While we don’t want to take away from the tracks and the trails and the projects that have got funding, it’s absolutely brilliant news and it’s so positive to see but it’s just unthinkable then that the information isn’t fed back through the people who are, like, we’re elected by the people to work on these projects and to help and to assist with these projects and to bring the news back to the people and when we’re bypassed then in terms of knowing what’s happening it really shows where the power in local authority is at the moment”.
Cllr O’Donoghue also claims northern Carlow is being overlooked in the latest plans which include a major extension to the library in Carlow Town and a revamp of the Potato Market.
He says it’s unfair that other parts of the county aren’t seeing similar developments, noting “It was fantastic to see so much funding coming down for projects in Carlow Town, some in Tullow, there was some in Grange and in Kildavin and then in Fenagh and other parts south of the county but you’ve got Rathvilly, Clonmore, Hacketstown and Tynock and there was no project, not one single project even mentioned in the plan beside any of the projects that did get funding”.
