Former council cathaoirleach suggests coastal caravan park would be ideal for beach parking

Former Meath County Council cathaoirleach, Tom Kelly is calling on the Council to purchase Lynch's Caravan Park in Bettystown, saying it is the ideal location to provide car parking for the beach and other amenities such as a playground and toilet facilities.

The former independent councillor, who was elected cathaoirleach in 2018, before losing his seat in the following year's local elections told how Lynch's Caravan Park has recently gone up for sale and he is calling on Meath County Council to purchase the 7.68 acre property, principally to provide parking for the beach and village. He argued that since parking on the beach ended, the lack of convenient parking means day-trippers are going elsewhere.

“It is an ideal opportunity for Meath County Council to invest in the coasts area of the county and to provide car parking facilities that are user friendly where people can cross the road, and access the beach over the dunes.

It is very convenient unlike what is available at the present time,” said Tom.

He said if you have a buggy and a couple of children with you, the parking available is very inconvenient and people are not coming as a result. “That's the problem. They are not coming to Bettystown,” he said.

With the rest of the site, he suggested that they could put in a playground, toilet and shower facilities and possibly some meeting rooms.

Regarding the question of loss of tourist income if his suggestion were to go ahead, he argued that most of the income to local businesses come from day trippers and they are losing out because of the lack of parking.

Tom said the price sought for the site is in the region of €3.5m and said Meath County Council had invested millions in areas like Navan, Ashbourne and Trim and needed to invest more in the coastal area.

He also said there is no tie up on the caravans or the coffee shop, with mobile homes being let on a yearly basis and therefore the site could be bought without any attachment.

The former independent councillor, who said he is strongly considering running again in next year's local elections, suggested that the Council should look at compulsorily acquiring the site under the traffic management programme for the coastal area and said that at the moment there are double yellow lines on the Coast Road and Gardai have been issuing fines.

“There is absolutely nowhere to park that is convenient to the beach only this spot.

“This is a once off chance,” he said.

He said he has raised the matter with the Council's Chief Executive and Failte Ireland and would also be contacting local representatives.

Meath County Council recently purchased land off the Tara Road for community development and Tom says this land would be more beneficial to the area to provide housing and said people are “crying out for social and affordable housing in the area” and that the site at Lynch’s could instead be used for community development and car parking.

When contacted, a Council spokesperson said: “Meath County Council has recently purchased land for community development in Bettystown and have no proposals to purchase additional lands at the moment.”

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