Connacht Tribune
Council’s hands tied on CPOs for greenway negotiations
Galway County Council had no powers to take Compulsory Purchase Orders off the table when negotiating with landowners, after a national code of practice was adopted for rolling out greenways.
The director of services in the infrastructure and operations unit Derek Pender said it was the ‘hope and intent’ of the Council not to have to exercise their powers to take land for the greenway between Ballinasloe and Galway by CPO.
He told the Loughrea area meeting that during the public consultations process, 330 individual submissions had been received to the online portal and 100 were relating to the Athenry to Oranmore spur.
A total of 270 letters had been lodged ‘categorically denying us access to land’, although the majority – 230 – of these were for outside the preferred route area.
A code of best practice had been signed off by the three major farming organisations after negotiations with the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the Department of Transport.
This laid out the compensation that would be paid to landowners, which involved a land acquisition fee as well as a ‘greenway sustainability payment’, which would be split into two payments, based on the length of land affected.
Half would be for an early sign-up contract, payable when planning permission is granted, the second would be handed over when the ‘ribbon was cut’.
Several Loughrea Municipal District councillors urged the director to remove the possibility of the local authority taking land for the greenway by CPO if agreement could not be reached.
Cllr Ivan Canning (FF) said he was in favour of greenways but the CPO was “like a lump in the throat they just can’t swallow”.
“That card is still in your back pocket – if they don’t agree they feel they will be bullied into by threat of a CPO,” he warned.
Cllr Jimmy McClearn (FG) said while he believed the benefits of a greenway had been ‘totally oversold’, he was adamant that a CPO was necessary or else a handful of people could scupper the entire project.
“There are people out there who want to create fear and anxiety and they don’t have land on the route. We should be honest: if there is no CPO there is no greenway and all the money spent will be wasted.”
He recalled there had been an agreement during the last process to create a greenway that there would have to be 90% agreement before the introduction of a CPO. He wanted that as a pre-condition during this latest iteration of the amenity.
Mr Pender said he was bound by the code of practice and could not deviate from it, which meant that CPOs were part of the process. The 90% agreement pertained to the last greenway process, which had been scrapped after farmers had united in their opposition to it.
His office would be looking to get 95-97% agreement on the route among local farmers before pressing ahead.
“We are flat out meeting people. We’ve had 300 face to face meetings or phone calls. Let the message go out: we will meet anybody, anywhere, anytime,” he stressed.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
