Community voices M20 concerns
An action group has been formed to campaign against a possible route for the N/M20 Cork to Limerick motorway.
Hundreds of people living in the Whitechurch area formed the group to campaign against the so-called ‘navy or blue route’. The group has concerns about the impact it will have on homes and farms as well as at the lack of face-to-face consultation because of Covid-19 restrictions.
The group has been engaging on social media and through virtual meetings since the public consultation on the new motorway opened on 19 November.
There is particular concern amongst residents living in the general areas of Tweedmount, Stoneview, Careys Cross, Coolowen, Sluggera Cross and Tullig.
Residents feel the proposed new route would divide the community and cause irreparable damage.
Spokesperson for the group, Dee Hosford, said: “The response to the announcement of a potential navy route for the M20 has been swift and our community is gearing up for a fight if it is selected by the planners. We feel it would decimate the connectivity between all these local areas and have a significant impact on local residential, educational, business and agricultural sectors.”
“What is clear is that a lot of people will lose their homes/farms under this route. There are other proposed routes, including the upgrading of the existing N20 which makes much more sense and have less of an impact on people’s lives. This has added unbelievable stress to our lives, and we had no idea that the motorway would ever come near our homes until a few weeks ago.”
A committee has been established to co-ordinate the community response, and a number of virtual meetings have been held amongst the community.
The inability to hold public meetings has hampered the wider effort to inform those living along the proposed route of the potential impact on their homes, the group has also said. Local politicians have been asked to intervene on behalf of the community. The group has asked that residents in the wider Whitechurch area who may be impacted engage with the public consultation process, and register their concern at the proposed route.
Limerick City and County Council is the lead authority on the scheme. Jari Howard, Project Coordinator for the Cork Limerick scheme, said that these are normal concerns that anyone would have when routes like this are proposed. All feedback, he said, will be considered.
He explained: “It’s not unique to this area, similar groups have been formed all the way along the project. People are a lot more organised these days which is good. We’ve had a lot of feedback from the area since we published the routes.
“We've had lots of meetings with the residents who will be in proximity to both the green and blue routes, which are two parallel options down at the end of the scheme. We often feel that the best way to make contact is one on one but with Covid-19 that means a phone call or online. We’re having 30-odd meetings a day with residents up and down the scheme.”
Mr Howard said people had asked for more time, so the deadline has been extended to 15 January. Visit corklimerick.ie.
so we’re providing as much information as we can to them and we’re meeting with groups collectively, too.” He added: “We want people to engage with us and we will take all of the feedback into consideration when we make the choice for the preferred option. We will take all the concerns on board and we knew people would have these concerns. You can’t develop such infrastructure without impacting people and communities and we do our best to minimise it.”