Wicklow County Council has poured cold water on a consultants’ report that found there are no big engineering obstacles to reopening the popular Bray-Greystones cliff walk.
The 7km coastal trail was closed by the local authority in early 2021 following significant erosion on the Greystones side of Bray Head and a rockfall on the Bray side.
A new report, commissioned from RPS consulting engineers by the council, found there were “tried and tested” ways of protecting against further rockfalls, while coastal erosion on the Greystones side could be avoided by rerouting part of the walk a few metres inland.
The path, which offers sweeping cliffside views across the sea from Howth to Wicklow Head, previously attracted an estimated 350,000 visitors a year and generated an estimated annual local spend of €18.4 million, according to a study by the economist Jim Power.
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In its assessment of the current state of the path, undertaken this summer, the consultants described the issues as minor.
[ It's a big attraction - we've got to get it reopened Opens in new window ]
“The cliff walk meets most of the requirements of the Walking Trails Criteria for Ireland. The majority of the criteria that it does not meet are minor, such as ensuring safe access, website updates, update and maintain information boards and signage, and to ensure a trail management plan with record keeping is generated,” it said, adding that remedial measures could last 120 years.
However, Wicklow County Council appears to have played down the prospects of an early reopening. Chief executive Emer O’Gorman said the job “will involve securing funding to complete the necessary work, after which a pathway will be developed when deemed safe to do so”.
The council has consistently said it would not reopen the walk until it secured finance from a range of agencies.
Ms O’Gorman said: “In the meantime, the walk remains closed due to safety concerns over the instability of the area, which represents a significant safety risk to the public.”
[ Closure of Bray-Greystones cliff walk has ‘cost the economy €73m’Opens in new window ]
She reiterated that the council had identified an alternative route involving walking along the R761 Windgates road towards the top of Bray Head before cutting in to a route down to Bray seafront, bypassing the existing cliff walk.
However, members of the campaign group Friends of the Cliff Walk have called on Tánaiste and Wicklow TD Simon Harris to convene a meeting of the Cliff Walk Task Force that he set up last February to explore the issues.
“This meeting should take place urgently, in our view,” said the group’s spokesman Peter Murtagh, a former Irish Times journalist.
“It must hear, a) that the council accepts the report and b) has set a transparent timetable for the speedy implementation of the short-term measures outlined in the report that would allow for the official reopening of the walk. If the council does not accept the report and will not implement its recommendations, that should be stated publicly, in our view.”
