‘High time we raised our voices’ over Letterkenny gridlock - Donegal Daily

Donegal needs to “raise its voice” over the lack of investment in Letterkenny, councillors warned today as worsening traffic brings the town’s infrastructure is...

Donegal needs to “raise its voice” over the lack of investment in Letterkenny, councillors warned today as worsening traffic brings the town’s infrastructure issues to the fore.

Councillor Gerry McMonagle said he is “sick, sore and tired” of criticism that the council had failed to plan ahead for Letterkenny's growth.

The Sinn Féin councillor told today’s plenary meeting that Letterkenny has had the plans for almost 20 years, but Government funding needed to turn them into roads and infrastructure still hasn’t materialised.

He has called for a delegation to take Letterkenny's issues directly to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Infrastructure Minister Jack Chambers and "get heads together" on the development of the town.

“Our businesses and the people of the town and this county are suffering because of that lack of investment," Cllr McMonagle told today’s plenary meeting of Donegal County Council.

He brought a motion forward calling on the Government to establish a high-level taskforce to develop and implement a strategic framework for Letterkenny’s future growth as a regional city.

The proposed taskforce would involve relevant departments and State agencies, Donegal County Council and representatives from the business, education, health and community sectors, with a focus on infrastructure, housing, transport, water services and investment.

Cllr McMonagle said the pressures are already obvious on Letterkenny’s roads as the town continues to expand.

“Letterkenny is growing into a city. We see that every single day,” he said.

“We see the growth of the ATU, we see the growth of our business sector and we see the growth of the traffic, unfortunately, in Letterkenny on an almost daily basis and the problems that that’s causing for people right across this county and people who are visiting the county.”

He said that the Bonagee Link bridge across the Swilly in Letterkenny, which is part of the long-running TEN-T plans, cannot be relied upon as the sole answer to Letterkenny’s traffic problems.

He also welcomed progress on the Northern Relief Road, which will help facilitate 654 new homes, but said that development would itself add to traffic in an already congested part of the town.

Cllr McMonagle also called for a masterplan for South Letterkenny, warning that a lack of roads, water and wastewater infrastructure is holding back development. He warned that forcing developers to fund the necessary infrastructure alone would make homes “totally unaffordable”.

“We cannot continue to develop Letterkenny in the way that we’re doing, where most of the development is going to take place on the northern side of the town,” he said.

“It is already overburdened. There’s a lack of community facilities in that area and the roads are not sufficient or big enough or well enough equipped to carry the traffic that is there.”

Cllr McMonagle said the " maddening thing" is that Government departments already know the ambitions for Letterkenny through discussions at North West cross-border level. He argued that the investment has not matched those ambitions.

“For far too long we’ve been neglected here in the North West,” he said.

“And we’re sitting up here and we’re not getting the same treatment.

“I think it’s high time that we went and raised our voices about this and met the people responsible for that lack of investment, and asked them seriously to look at Donegal, to look at future investment and to get this county back on the map and get Letterkenny prepared for growing into a city, which it is well advanced to do now.”

The motion was seconded by Independent Cllr Declan Meehan, who said Letterkenny was experiencing a “tale of two cities”.

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While acknowledging the investment and positive developments taking place, he said that was only “half the story”.

"We know that the town is choked and we know that there is a plan there to solve those issues, but we don’t have the resources or the investment either at the scale or within the timeframe necessary to deliver that,” he said.

“We can’t expect Letterkenny to accommodate more people, more businesses and more investment without all the necessary infrastructure that goes along with that.”

Cllr Meehan said one of the biggest problems was the fragmented nature of responsibility, with key decisions spread across numerous Government departments and State agencies.

He said Letterkenny needed investment across housing, transport, water, energy and community infrastructure rather than treating traffic as an issue in isolation.

“Instead of constantly playing catch-up with infrastructure, we need to actually get ahead of ourselves,” he said.

Responding for Donegal County Council, Director of Economic Development Garry Martin said Letterkenny’s role as the economic driver of the county and as part of the wider North West City Region was well established.

He said it was also accepted that “substantial capital investment” was needed across the wider North West, including roads, the 220kV electricity network, rail, housing, water and wastewater.

Mr Martin said the council has been making the case for enabling infrastructure through work with Derry City and Strabane District Council, as well as with neighbouring councils in Leitrim and Sligo.

He said the motion was timely and confirmed that, following its adoption, the council would pursue engagement with Government on taking the initiative forward.

Cllr McMonagle said the growth of Letterkenny’s businesses, schools and third-level education was positive, but warned that the town simply does not have the infrastructure to cope.

He called for progress on a town bus service and rail connectivity, while warning that infrastructure needs to be put in place before Letterkenny’s population expands further.

“Let’s not build a city and then look for the infrastructure,” he said.

“We built a very successful town and we built it on roads that were there for a town of 3,500-5,000 people.

“We’re sitting now at 24,000 with the same amount of roads. It’s just not good enough.”

He said investment in Letterkenny would ultimately benefit the entire county through shopping, commuting and the wider economic growth generated by the town.

“By supporting Letterkenny, we’re supporting all of Donegal,” he said.