A SLIGO community trying to salvage a multimillion euro regeneration project has lost €3.5 million in State funding which was not drawn down this year, say local campaigners.
Community leaders in Cranmore have invited local politicians to attend a public meeting tomorrow night to resolve the impasse over a proposed bridge.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen and former minister for finance Ray MacSharry are among those who have appealed to local borough councillors to sort out the mess which could cost Sligo €100 million allocated under the National Spatial Strategy. The Cranmore regeneration project was set up to benefit a community which has endured decades of neglect, but the Department of the Environment insists it is linked to building an eastern link bridge in Sligo.
Local councillors have voted to delete the bridge from the local development plan because of concerns among residents close to the site. Michelle McMorrow of the Cranmore Community Co-op said, "[The people of Cranmore have] suffered years of neglect. We have been classed as disadvantaged but we have tried to move on. Our take on this is that the councillors should put the bridge back in the plan and then consult about where to put the access routes."
Sligo borough councillors voted to delete the bridge from the Sligo Environs Development Plan saying the proposed access routes would rip through one of the oldest residential areas. The department has argued that because of Sligo's designation as a "gateway" city, the projects must be part of a master plan.
Speaking in the Dáil earlier this year, Minister for Housing Michael Finneran said he wanted to send out a message that the regeneration of Cranmore could not take place without the bridge.
