Convoy to Louth County Hall on Friday to protest against Greenway

Opponents to the proposed Dundalk-Carlingford Greenway are planning a convoy of vehicles, from Cooley to County Hall in Dundalk, this Friday morning, to hand in a petition of names of people in the Cooley Peninsula who are opposed to the local authority's plans.

The convoy, which will be stopping at Cooley Kickhams GFC, St Pats GFC, and at Londis in Bellurgan, will include landowners, farmers and local residents, who say they do not want the proposed greenway to go through their property.

Louth County Council, with the support of Transport Infrastructure Ireland, is currently developing proposals for the Dundalk Bay to Carlingford Greenway project. The study area for the proposed greenway project encompasses the Regional Centre of Dundalk, and the town of Carlingford, along with the interconnecting road network.

The R173 Regional Road, the main route connecting Dundalk with Carlingford, and, along with other regional and local roads in the study area are seen as having no provision for pedestrians and cyclists, for reasons including, high vehicle speeds, narrow road widths and lack of segregated facilities.

The public has been urged to participate in the second non-statutory public consultation (Option Selection) for the proposed greenway. The aim of the public consultation is to receive feedback on the Route Corridor Options to assist the project team in the decision-making process when further refining the corridor options and selecting the emerging preferred route corridor.

On the Protect Cooley Peninsula Facebook page, organisers of the protest say that "we are a community-driven group dedicated to opposing the proposed greenway routes that threaten to cut through our properties & land".

The date for making submissions in relation to Public Consultation No.2 for the greenway has been extended to 6 September. Details in relation to making submissions can be found at www.dundalkcarlingfordgreenway.ie