Council announce €500m spending plan for major capital projects
PAUL MURPHY
Meath County Council is to spend €500 million on major capital works in the county over the next three years in a major plan announced this week.
The council is to raise money for building works on roads, housing, libraries, swimming pools and outdoors amenities between now and 2022.
Although the council faces uncertainty in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, it intends pressing ahead with projects which it says are essential for the county and the wellbeing of its almost 200,000 population.
Introducing the plan at the monthly county council on Monday, council head of finance Fiona Lawless described it as “progressive and optimistic” and more than matched the efforts of other county councils.
Entitled “Capital Investment Programme 2020-2022”, the plan emphasised that its first priority will be spending on the council's own assets and also on projects of strategic importance to the county. It will also put emphasis on projects where the council can leverage outside funding, and funds will be driven towards projects where jobs can be created. Money will be spent on projects only if a good business case can be made for them, the council said.
The council has spent €315 million on capital projects between 2017 and the present, more than half of it on housing.
Under the heading of transport, the council is spending heavily on road works including these projects – Farganstown Metges Road; Ratoath outer relief road; Butterjohn traffic management; Kilberry traffic management; Milltown Road, Ashbourne; Spine Road, Bettystown; Railway Street, Navan; Cantilever bridge, Navan; NTA 2030 Navan traffic management project; Ratoath GDA cycle network; Royal Canal greenway. Spending will also take place on other items like footpaths (€43.1m), public lighting (€1.3m); civic buildings and libraries (€3m).
In terms of amenities and roads a total of €6.7m will be spent this year, €6m next year and €7m in 2022. Over the period of the plan, €15m will be allocated to the purchase of land for council housing. €3.4m will be set aside for Traveller accommodation while €15m will be spent on libraries, swimming pools, courthouse facilities and the Solstice Theatre.
The overall cost of the capital programme is €49.1 million. The council itself has €22.5m in hand and expects to collect €22.5m in levies, rents, charges etc, leaving a potential shortfall of €6.8m.
Independent Cllr Nick Killian welcomed the projected spending on housing but said there was very little in the document for the Ratoath Municipal District. The population of that area was growing and more houses were coming on stream and the area needed much more expenditure than it was getting, he said.
Independent Cllr Joe Bonner said that Ashbourne and Ratoath had a population between them of 25,000 yet they had no recycling centre, an amenity that was badly needed.
Fine Gael Cllr Joe Fox said the council should send out the message that it was spending half a billion euros over the next three years. Major projects were in the pipeline including the Royal Canal greenway which would connect Meath with Co Dublin and Kildare, with their populations of 1.5 million people.
Fine Gael Cllr Sarah Reilly said the public lighting programme was being “well dealt with” but she said she needed more specific information regarding spending on burial grounds in the county. Her party colleague,
Cllr Gerry O'Connor said he wanted more specifics on what was proposed to be spent in Ratoath Municipal District.
Fianna Fail Cllr Aisling Dempsey congratulated the head of finance for funding money for the Trim Library and Enfield community projects and Fine Gael Cllr Eugene Cassidy said it was great to see the county council taking a proactive approach “especially in these strange times”.
Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan said it was very much appreciated that the council was living up to its promises on the library project in East Meath.