Westport's Railway Line Walk has become the focus of an environmental debate over the future of the Mayo town. A petition posted recently through the letterboxes of every household reads: "I request Westport UDC to take on board the Westport Civic Trust proposal of a linear park centred on the Railway Line Walk and to thoroughly investigate alternative means of access to development lands at Clonmoonad."
This petition was drawn up in response to a statutory notice published in the local papers on July 4th by the council. In its notification, the UDC outlines its intention to construct a road parallel to the town's railway line amenity walk and to build a bridge traversing the walkway which would open up lands for housing development. Earlier this year, in a letter to each member of the UDC, Mr Henry Horkan, chairman of the Civic Trust, accused the body of being "caught up in a frenzy of development with its accompanying mindset, without [allowing] sufficient time to consider the more spiritual or mundane aspects of our existence".
It appears that both Mayo County Council (MCC) and the UDC are firmly stuck between a rock and a hard place with regard to the conflicting demands of the trust and the urgent need to access and develop adjacent lands at Cloonmonad for housing.
They have already been forced, after much lobbying and 1,700 signatures, to modify their original plans which had entailed replacing the walkway with a road and building a roundabout at the town end of the walk.
Critics of their new plan have a right to make submissions until August 21st.