Blackwater Park road route plan anger

A Navan councillor has slammed plans to route a new road through Meath County Council lands in Blackwater Park and has vowed to launch a campaign to save the park.

Sinn Fein councillor Sinead Burke said she is not against plans for the new road which will link the Rathaldron Road with the Kells Road but wants the engineers to find another solution that would not see valuable space in the park used for the project.
The emerging preferred route passes through the former Department of Agriculture building coming out at the roundabout on the Kells Road. This option gives the most direct route to the M3 motorway which is one of the objectives of the scheme.
However, Cllr Burke, who attended a briefing on the emerging preferred route last week, said it "just didn't sit well" with her.
"It looks like the park is going to get a road through it before even getting toilets. The park has been such a long time coming and is used every day by hundreds of people, and several clubs use it. It can be an even bigger success when we sort out the playing pitches, toilets and changing rooms which are all due to be put in.
"I am very annoyed about plans to put a road to the side of the park before there are even concrete plans for these facilities. While I accept there is nothing on these lands at the moment, if the road goes in, there will never be."
Cllr Burke said she would be "fighting this tooth and nail". 
"I think the people of the town need to register their opposition and let the engineers come up with another solution that doesn't take valuable land out of the the public park that we have waited so long to get."
She has also stressed the need for a long term plan for the development of the park. "Despite repeated requests to know when there will be a plan for the park, we still haven't had any sight of one."
Cllr Burke said she wants the engineers to come back with another plan and warned that valuable land in the park should not be used as an "easy solution".
Three route corridor options were assessed by consultants AECOM, under the criteria engineering, environment and economy, with the middle 'B' route emerging as the preferred option. This route runs along the side of Blackwater Park but would impact on the park less than route 'C' option which came out the vicinity of Balmoral Industrial Estate. The third option joined the Kells Road adjacent to the Blackwater Retail Park and would have impact on local properties.