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Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has announced today, 13 January that consultants have been commissioned to progress six major active travel schemes across the north including the Newry Inner City Greenway which will connect the Newry to Carlingford Greenway with the Newry Canal towpath to Portadown.
The connection between the Carlingford Lough Greenway and Newry Canal towpath has long been campaigned for by community group Newry 2020 alongside Newry.ie who believe that the ideal route would travel from Newry Canal Towpath between the Newry Canal and the Clanrye River all the way to the Carlingford Lough Greenway. A November 2022 Newry, Mourne and Down District Council 'Newry Greenway Feasibility Study' also suggested this route. While the bus station element of the route could be challenging, the urgent need for repairs to the Newry Canal wall and fencing currently could make it a project that literally 'kills two birds with the one stone'.
One concern though is that today's announcement said that it will take 12-18 months just to get to the initial public engagement phase!
The Department is moving forward with the Newry Inner City Greenway alongside five other signature schemes: Sydenham Greenway, Maydown to Campsie, Black Paths extension to Portadown railway station, Bellarena to Bishop's Gate, and Coleraine to Portstewart.
simplest to develop.
Combined, the six schemes will create around 40km of new active travel routes with an estimated capital cost of around £80 million.
Minister Kimmins said she was committed to providing cleaner and greener travel options for people. She explained that active travel is good for the environment and can help to improve the health and wellbeing for those who choose to walk, wheel or cycle for some of their shorter everyday journeys. The Minister described the six significant active travel schemes as a tangible demonstration of that commitment.
The Minister spoke about recently attending the official opening of the Newry to Carlingford Greenway “I recently had the pleasure of attending the official opening of the Newry to Carlingford Greenway which is enjoyed by many people and I heard about the many benefits the scheme brings for the local community and for tourism. Progression of the Newry Inner City Greenway project will complement that further by connecting the newly completed Greenway to the Newry Canal towpath to Portadown.”
The Department will bring preliminary proposals to the public for input once these have been suitably developed. Minister Kimmins said that meaningful engagement with the public is key to delivering projects of this nature.
Delivery of the six schemes will be subject to timing of satisfactory completion of all statutory processes and future budget availability. Major road schemes of this nature take several years to deliver and each of the six projects have a separate timeframe for delivery.
See Linking Newry Canal Towpath with Greenway for our suggestions from May 2020. Since then part of the route has been proposed by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council to travel behind the Town Hall as part of the new theatre but this currently is paused.
