March 3rd 2021

The Project Team thanks everybody who has been in contact throughout Public Consultation number 2, which closed on Monday 1^st March.

There is enormous interest in the project that has resulted in lots of engagement over the past month through telephone calls, the virtual consultation room, virtual meetings and emails. We received over 10,000 submissions from individuals and groups and the Project Team really appreciates the effort made to provide feedback and submissions. We are also very grateful to each person and organisation that we have engaged with for the courtesy extended to the Project Team.

The Project Team will now analyse all the submissions in greater detail and feedback will inform the next stage of the project.

The recent consultation has shown us that there is a strong desire amongst the communities of East, South and North Galway and South Roscommon for the cycleway; and we also fully appreciate that the project will only be delivered through engagement and collaboration with the farming community.

Whilst we are very pleased with the large number of submissions we have not received as many submissions from landowners as we would like.  The Project Team is committed to intensifying our engagement with landowners and the farming community over the coming months. Public health restrictions meant that not everyone was able to participate in the consultation as they might have liked, and we were unable to meet with farmers personally. Once public health guidelines permit, our Project Liaison Officers will be ‘on the ground’ and available to meet people face to face or in groups. In particular, our Project Liaison Officers will start to visit farmers and landowners in the Consultation Areas to explore possible route options there, and to talk through any issues or concerns. The objective is to find out how a route may be developed with the consent of the landowner, which is likely to be around the boundary of a land holding. We would like to reassure landowners that we will not proceed to the next stage of the project, identification of a preferred corridor, until this consultation has been done.

We’d like to encourage and farmers or landowners in the Consultation Areas to get in contact with us over the next month by telephone or email, if they have not already done so, and let us know their thoughts on the project. This will help the PLOs focus their attention on certain areas.  We understand that some farms are much less able to accommodate a cycleway than others, and we’d like to avoid disturbing these people unnecessarily.  However, we are always willing to talk to all landowners and answer questions and provide information.

We want to maintain this strong level communication throughout the project, so we would like to remind everyone that the Project Team are always available to talk to people and will continue to facilitate calls and virtual meetings in the coming months. This can be arranged by calling 091 509267, or by emailing us at info@galwaytoathlonecycleway.com. Project information will continue to be on display on www.galwaytoathlonecycleway.com, and we will provide regular news and updates on the website.

We have provided several Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on our website, including a few issues specifically raised by farmers and landowners. We expect to come across many more questions and issues as we study submissions and will update and add to these as we go.  

Again, we thank everyone for the overwhelming response received during the Public Consultation, and we look forward to working together to deliver this really exciting and important project in the coming months and years.

Last changed: Mar 03 2021 at 6:01 PM