A meeting with Waterways Ireland is to be sought by council members before they make a decision on how best to proceed with the local area plan for Glasson.
It is hoped that a canal and harbour can be incorporated into the plan; however no commitment on these proposals has yet been received from Waterways Ireland.
While director of services Barry Kehoe believes it is still the objective of Waterways Ireland to provide the canal and harbour, councillors were reluctant to put the plan into action without some level of commitment from the body.
“We can wait for Waterways Ireland to make a decision on the canal, which in effect would put the local area plan on hold. Or we could amend the draft plan to delete references to the canal and harbour, and then we would have a choice to develop it or leave it open for the inclusion of the canal and harbour at a later date,” explained Mr Kehoe at this week’s Athlone Area Meeting.
However, councillors decided it would help to first meet with a representative of Waterways Ireland to see what their long-term intentions were.
“If we get an indication from Waterways Ireland as to whether it is their intention, we can work with that,” said mayor Cllr Mark Cooney.
“I don’t disagree that the plan should be moved on. We had got to the stage where we were generally happy with the draft plan. A large part of this was the canal and it would affect how lands would be developed.
“It is shortsighted to assume Waterways Ireland won’t do anything and to proceed accordingly - it might render it impossible to include it at a later date.”
Cllr Frankie Keena said that while the desired elements might not be on the cards in the near future, it would be a “disservice to the future of Glasson” to rule out the possibility.
“We need to look at ways to leave the plan open for Waterways Ireland to come back with a positive report and to include these elements,” he said.
