Planning application submitted for Newry – Omeath greenway

Part of the Carlingford – Omeath greenway which opened last summer

A planning application has been submitted by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council to complete the Newry – Omeath greenway.

This proposed scheme would link up with the Great Northern Greenway, which opened last summer and runs from Carlingford to Omeath.

The Newry – Omeath greenway will take in lands from the Dublin Road bridge to Victoria Lock through the Albert Basin and the Middlebank in Newry.

There would also be new pedestrian crossings at the existing weir and Victoria Lock gates.

Long term the hope is to run the Greenway into Dundalk and possibly even as far as Dublin with a route to Scotland, via the ferry at Larne, also a possibility.

Cyclepath planned from Dundalk to Scotland

Part of the walkway/cyclepath linking Carlingford and Omeath which would form part of the planned route from Dundalk Bay to the ferry in Larne

A network of cycle paths, which would take in Dundalk, could be developed from the east coast of Ireland to Scotland.

Louth County Council is working with Newry and Mourne District Council and the Lough’s Agency to develop a cycle route from Dundalk Bay along the existing Newry Canal Towpath and on to Lough Neagh.

Depending on the allocation of funding, the cycle route could be extended south from Dundalk to Dublin, while the cycleway in the North will continue to the ferry at Larne. From there, it would like up with Scottish cycleways.

Catherine Duff, senior engineer at Louth County Council, told the Sunday Business Post that part of the project was already complete in Louth, with a six-kilometre cycle path recently constructed on the old railway line between Omeath and Carlingford.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland has long sections of cycleway already in place with the completion of the project a matter of “filling in the gaps” according to those overseeing it.

Local authorities on both sides of the border will apply for funding from the EU’s Interreg programme in the next series of funding rounds early next year.