Western Rail Corridor Uses

Submission to Galway Draft County Development Plan on behalf of Sligo Greenway Co-op

Background:

Sligo Greenway Co-op is a community-based organisation that seeks to have the closed rail line from Collooney in County Sligo to Bellaghy on the Sligo-Mayo border developed as a greenway.

There had been a reluctance within Sligo County Council in previous years to explore this development because of lobbying for a railway on the route, on a series of closed and disused lines collectively described as the ‘western rail corridor’. However given the realisation that the railway project is decades away at best, the Council has in recent years decided to back the greenway proposal, and changes were voted through in the most recent County Development Plan to facilitate the furthering of the greenway project. Currently, the project is at pre-planning stage. 

A financial feasibility study by Tully Meehan and Associates on behalf of Tubbercurry IRD showed a payback period to the community of as little as two years if the greenway was built using the most effective option of locating it on the track bed, utilising the existing stone ballast as a base. Rail lobbyists had advocated that the greenway be built alongside the railway, so as to allow for the laying of new tracks, but greenway advocates successfully argued the cheaper option provided the best route protection, a position supported by Irish Rail.

The owners of the asset, Irish Rail, have expressed their agreement and support for this project, and have facilitated all technical feasibility studies by agreeing to make all their engineering records for the route available to the Council and the appointed consultants.

Five thousand shares have been bought by members of the public in South Sligo in Sligo Greenway Co-op, and the opinion of these shareholders was a key factor in changing the mind-set of a number of public representatives who had previously opposed the project.

The Sligo Greenway is to be built on the closed railway line between Collooney in County Sligo and Bellaghy, beside Charlestown on the Sligo-Mayo border. The East Mayo Greenway group, a community initiative with similar aspirations to ourselves is seeking to have the greenway extended southwards through Mayo to the Galway border at Milltown. North of Collooney, plans are well underway to connect the Sligo Greenway to Enniskillen in Northern Ireland via the closed Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway, and this project has cross-border support at government level.

Extending this greenway southwards to connect with the Dublin-Galway Greenway at Athenry would place East Galway at the heart of a massive tourism project that would open up the entire region to the burgeoning leisure-tourism industry, so clearly we in Sligo would like to see the benefits of this project spread all along the line from Athenry to Enniskillen.

On behalf of Sligo Greenway Co-Op, I would like to make the following observations in respect of the Draft County Development Plan for Galway

1. Should the State invest in greenways?

We believe the State should invest in greenways, but within an overall planned structure. It is important that funding for greenways is targeted at projects with the potential to form part of a national network that will enhance lives, assist in commuting to work or school, and increase employment and opportunities in the tourism and leisure sectors. The proposed Quiet Man Greenway from Athenry to Milltown is not just a stand-alone project but has the potential to link the Dublin-Galway Greenway to the North West along the alignment of the disused and closed rail route from Athenry to Collooney, and onwards to Northern Ireland via the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway route. It also has the potential to link the Northern Ireland Greenway network to the existing greenway in Westport and to east Galway, Connemara and to the North West generally. It can help create a safe, off-road alternative to the Wild Atlantic Way, allowing walking and cycling tourists to divert from it at Sligo and follow the more inland route through a region that is entirely unspoilt.

1. Use of State-owned lands, and the permissive access model

It is always desirable to use state-owned lands for greenway development. We would contend that the use of public lands reduces costs, and allows limited budgets to deliver increased mileage. It also eliminates the risk to the continuity of greenways as happens with permissive access over private lands. It also avoids expensive and time-consuming legal actions that delay project for years.
As with the Sligo Greenway, the Quiet Man Greenway proposal relates to lands entirely in public ownership. A greenway on this route delivers the added advantage of preserving the route in public ownership for future generations, in case it is needed for other use such as rail, broadband, energy transmission etc. The nature of the railway also means that the greenway is delivered into the centre of towns without complicated and expensive on-street traffic management.
While permissive access or compulsory purchase may have a role in the provision of a greenway network, in our view this should be a matter of last resort, particularly when there are available alternatives.

1. Rural regeneration
   A greenway network has the potential to be a significant element in regeneration of rural towns and villages. Once a local greenway forms part of a national network, it can attract Irish and international tourists who like to walk or cycle in a traffic-free environment. Unlike visitors who arrive in or pass through rural areas in cars, cyclists and walkers have to eat, sleep and take breaks where they are – they cannot drive off to cities to access services.
   Greenways help develop or preserve services locally, everything from shops and cafes to accommodation at all levels and price points. Such services help sustain communities and provide services for local people that allow them to spend money locally themselves without having to travel to larger centres. The incubation or sustaining of these services also enhances the quality of life in such towns and villages, making them more attractive places to live and work and helping to halt or reverse rural decline.
   The Quiet Man Greenway (and the longer route from Athenry to Enniskillen of which it will eventually form a part) will help to drive business to a neglected part of the country that has long been starved of investment. The coastal part of the North West, particularly since the development of the Wild Atlantic Way concept, has been comfortably growing its tourism business in recent years and is currently at capacity in some places, but the Quiet Man Greenway can help attract business to a region bypassed by almost every other tourism initiative. The area is beautiful and peaceful, with a superb landscape and a tradition of music and culture that forms part of the offering sought by these kinds of tourists. In addition, the fact that the route follows a closed rail line means that it is very unspoiled and is not blighted by ribbon development.

1. Adventure tourism
   The term ‘adventure tourism’ is often associated with hard-core sports, but in fact it can encompass all levels of activity. Somebody who would be afraid to ride a bike on a city street can have their own adventure in a rural place once safe infrastructure exists.
   The entire Athenry-Enniskillen route also dovetails with some of the more robust ‘adventure tourism’ offerings. The developing mountain biking centre in Coollaney fits well with the longer greenway route which will also run through the village; both projects will create a mix of activities for all levels for families or groups who visit the region.

1. Quality of life issues and wider employment

The provision of leisure infrastructure like greenways forms part of the ‘quality of life’ criteria used by large companies when choosing to locate in an area. Tech companies in particular tend to require such infrastructure to be present before considering an area as a location for a headquarters or other facility, and they understand the need for such quality of life facilities in order to recruit and retain staff. Increasingly, it is impossible to encourage many companies to relocate to rural areas unless such facilities are already there; these companies cannot attract the staff they need in the absence of such facilities.

1. Fears that greenway development will prevent the future development of rail

Some public representatives in Sligo initially opposed the Sligo Greenway out of fear that the project might prevent future rail development. However once they had informed themselves of the facts and they understood that the licensing arrangement between CIE and the local authorities was watertight in protecting rail as the primary objective on the route, their opposition to the greenway project disappeared.

The Sligo Greenway will be built on the existing track bed because the cost is around one third to half the cost of building it alongside the track. As in Galway, the existing rails, sleepers and ballast are unfit for purpose and would have to be removed in order to build a railway in any case. If a railway project secures government approval and funding at some time in the future, the greenway can be relocated alongside it as part of the engineering works at that time, at a marginal extra cost in the context of the construction of a railway. For now, utilising existing ballast, bridges and other infrastructure is a logical way to approach the project, and makes the greenway competitive when seeking funding at national level.

In general, as we came to realise in Sligo, it is better to light some candles than curse the darkness. The disused and closed railway that used to serve our rural towns isn’t coming back any time soon, according to all the experts in the field, and indeed according to three recent official reports and all successive recent ministers for transport. It makes more sense for us to take funding that is being offered to us, while by all means continuing to lobby for rail infrastructure. The latter however is only likely to be delivered if the cost benefit is proven; ‘back of the envelope’ wishful thinking is no longer a ticket to government funding for major projects. Galway County council should embrace the available funding and use it to trigger regeneration of towns and villages along the derelict rail line. Then, if railway funding becomes an option, embrace it too and build both.

The RSES describe a greenway on this route as a project underway. Irish rail describes a greenway on the route as a ‘win-win,’ in that it protects the route from loss to state ownership. It is unthinkable that the County Council might turn its back on this reality, and doing so would go against the best interests of the citizens of the county and of the wider region.

Pat McCarrick (Chair)

Sligo Greenway Co-op

July 2021