Need for ‘balanced’ development in Letterkenny highlighted - Donegal News

The need for more balanced development in Letterkenny was highlighted at a special plenary meeting of Donegal County Council

THE need for increased development on the southern side of Letterkenny was highlighted at Monday’s special plenary meeting of Donegal County Council.

A series of proposed variations to the County Development Plan 2024-2030 were presented from each municipal district.

During the discussions, councillors from the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District highlighted the need for more ‘balanced’ development of residential areas in Letterkenny.

Sinn Féin Cllr Gerry McMonagle said: “You take Letterkenny and you get the balance of development, we would need the southern side to have infrastructure put in place, which is not there and won’t be there for a good few years by the sounds of it.”

He raised the lack of existing infrastructure on the southern side of the town as a reason for limited development there.

“On the southern side we haven’t got the infrastructure of water and wastewater and there’s no plans by Uisce Éireann who’s in charge of all that to do that,” said Cllr McMonagle.

“But that would be the place that you would develop Letterkenny going forward.”

He highlighted the potential difficulties in continuing to develop in built-up areas of the town.

“I think we’re going to run into issues with current residents and groups who don’t want further building in their areas,” said Cllr McMonagle.

“In my opinion, a lot of the development that’s going on in Letterkenny now is in the area of town, I would call it ‘the eye of the storm’ where it’s just jammed with traffic every single morning,” he said.

“We need more balanced development in Letterkenny and I think the south side of the River Swilly needs to be developed.”

Cllr McBride added: “There’s no developer in this world that could come in there and put the money in that’s needed to develop that land on the south side of the Swilly.”

However, Cllr McBride said he had spoken with the mayor of Drogheda over similar issues with development in the Co Louth town.

He suggested a meeting with representatives from Drogheda to discuss how they tackled issues there.

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