Call for action on overgrown weeds along greenway

Local councillor says verges along the edge will be cut to maintain greenway and rest will be left in natural state to promote biodiversity

Overgrown weeds and briars are posing a danger for cyclists along sections of the Boyne Valley to Lakelands County Greenway, according to one local resident who is calling on Meath County Council to trim back the undergrowth.

Tony Tobin said ragwort, which is a noxious weed, is "out of control" and the greenway is also becoming overgrown with nettles, thistles and briars, particularly on the section between Castletown and Nobber.

He said he had recently cycled the Old Rail trail in Mullingar which he described as a "fabulous facility" with coffee shops, benches and other amenities, but that by contrast the local section of greenway between Castletown and Nobber is overgrown with noxious weeds with little or no benches. He is questioning whether any maintenance plan is in place.

"I cycle it but it it is quite dangerous now cycling because some of the briars are stretched across the greenway and are at eye level height. You could get your eye taken out if you weren't wearing goggles or glasses. As well as that, there are nettles and thistles all over the place so children could get stung. These are all things that could be just trimmed back, not cut down, everything doesn't have to be sanitised. A basic maintenance plan needs to be put in place.

"If two people were cycling, they couldn't pass one another without going into undergrowth especially on the section between Nobber and Castletown. Wilkinstown to Navan is not too bad.

"The politicians were up here recently for their glory and their photographs but they obviously didn't travel the rest of the greenway to see the state it is in," remarked Tony, referring to the recent official opening of the greenway in Castletown.

He also wants to see more benches and said a lot of elderly people walk the greenway and it would be nice for them to be able to sit down and some plaques highlighting points of interest. For example, he said the former Gibbstown Railway Station "is just left in wilderness" and that "they didn't even try to cut back the vegetation around it so you could see there was a railway station there." He also said the old mile markers telling you how far you are from Broadstone Depot are totally overgrown, apart from 40m one at Castletown that he cleared away and repainted.

"I've spoken to other people along the greenway and they all seen pretty fed up with the state of it's in," said Tony.

Local councillor Eugene Cassidy said that work has begun cutting the verges of the greenway between Navan and Wilkinstown and that given the level of growth it possibly could have been done a few weeks earlier.

"The Council goes in every year and cut two stripes along the side and that maintains the greenway and the rest can grow wild, as regards biodiversity. If you maintain the edge, the rest can do what it wants. I've had a few phone calls from people cycling saying briars are coming out and catching them, and then another from someone else about biodiversity when they started cutting it between Navan and Wilkinstown.

"It's a balancing act between maintaining the greenway and also regarding biodiversity. Just one or two stripes is cut either side and the rest left in a natural state."

Cllr Cassidy also said they intend to make an application for ORIS funding to install picnic benches and noticeboards along the route. He said the full greenway isn't open yet and it is still a "work in progress".

Meath County Council has been contacted for comment.