A SECTION of the North Down Coastal Path at risk of collapse could soon get the green light from planners to get repairs under way.
The part of the path in the crosshairs for an upgrade is a two kilometre stretch along the coast of Holywood.
Plans considered earlier this month by Ards and North Down Council cover the section from the bridge at Seahill, to the Royal Belfast Golf Club, described by a council report as ’particularly narrow and uneven underfoot’.
The report, by the council’s Parks and Cemeteries department, said the path was ‘periodically washed out, exposing kerbs’, and suffered from ‘overgrown verges’, with part of it even being ‘at risk of collapse’.
Plans for the development of parts of the 16-mile stretch of coastal path are the focus of a body – the North Down Coastal Path Task and Finish Working Group – which is considering issues of maintenance, signage and options for future use of the path.
Welcoming the report on the proposed planning application to remedy the path, Ulster Unionist Party councillor David Chambers said: “It’s an essential piece of work that’s required, so we have to get on with it.”
Green Party councillor, Barry McKee, said the works amounted to a ‘light touch’ and ‘things deemed that are really necessary’.
“Nobody is keen to see things that are unnecessary or something that is going to cause friction with residents in the borough but I think it’s pretty paramount that we undertake a bit of work but something that is going to preserve the uniqueness of the path, its mystic charm and something that’s not going to diminish any connection that people have with it so I think we just need to get the balance right.”
The Bangor West councillor added that the council had to ensure that ‘we remember all the issues that we got into in the previous iteration, to make sure that we keep communicating with the public’.
He added the plans ‘meet the true objectives and that the outcomes are the best for everybody including the environment’.
Bangor West councillor Stephen Holywood (UUP), inquired about potential funding sources for the improvement plans and if there were any anticipated challenges expected from landowners and the permissions required to carry out the work.
He further asked about the timescale involved in bringing the plans to planning.
Head of the council’s Parks and Cemeteries department, Stephen Daye said ‘there is money in the council budget for a certain amount of work’ but that had yet to be confirmed.
He said costs would be dependent on survey work, the outcome of tenders and planning, when the council would then be ‘in a better position to work all that out’.
Mr Daye added that without the work, the future of the path was in doubt, also conceding that it would have to close for a time to facilitate the planned works.
“It would close for a number of weeks but would certainly safeguard that part of the path for many years to come because it is significantly undermined and would eventually have to be closed in the coming years if the work wasn’t carried out.”
Holywood and Clandeboye councillor, Martin McRandal said that as a representative for the area in which the planned path revamp is destined he was pleased to hear of the development.
The Alliance member said: “As a regular coastal path user I am pleased to see this coming.”
He said it was ‘a part of the path that is chronically in need of repair so it has my support’.
The officer’s report recommending the council proceed with its path improvements plans to the working group and ‘eventual submission of planning application’ received unanimous agreement from the committee.
