Specific road funding to aid K'shandra investment

The council is being urged to seek funding from the Department of Transport for road improvements connecting the town of Killeshandra in light of further planned investment by Lakeland Dairies.

The issue was discussed at the November meeting of the Cavan Belturbet Municipal District.

In February of this year the dairy processing co-op received planning permission for an extension to its local facility.

The single-storey, new build will house a storage, packaging, and dispatch area with a link corridor to the existing production and warehouse building. Permission also provides for a 15-metre high silo, alterations to the existing laboratory building, air handling unit (AHU) as well as the relocation of a transformer.

According to planning documents, the Lakeland facility in Killeshandra accepted almost 170 million litres of whole milk during 2023. Milk intake at the site will increase by 19% to over 201 million litres of whole milk annually once the development is complete.

The council provided planing with seven conditions attached.

Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feeley, who proposed the motion when Cavan-Belturbet elected area members met in Blacklion's Market House for their Municipal District meeting, highlighted how the investment came after Lakeland Dairies announced plans to close three other facilities to cut overheads.

The Killeshandra site will continue to operate alongside facilities in Bailieborough; Newtownards, Co Down; Ballyrashane, Co Derry and Artigarvan, Co Tyrone.

Cllr Feeley said that Killeshandra was “unique” within the MD for having a major industry present within the town, and it was a requirement that such businesses benefited from good connectivity.

“As a local authority we must be seen to support investment,” he stated, adding that problems with the roads connecting Killeshandra to Ballinagh had been on the agenda for some time with no breakthrough.

Independent Brendan Fay agreed.

He said that often when “two trucks come at once, they can't get by” on some sections.

Sinn Féin's Damien Brady said that investment in the route was “badly needed”.

In a separate earlier motion he had raised issued over traffic and road safety in the Bawn area of the town, stating that cars approach “at speed” and he himself had seen some “near misses”.

Road markings are required, as well as possible signage in the areas where buses drop off children after school.

He also highlighted concerns over “dangerous” trees along roadsides, and when one falls, drivers have few other options.

Áine Smith (FF) said the matter had been raised in the past on the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, and claimed that the area had been let down by a lack of investment. Where there was opportunity, such as with Lakeland, then that “needs to be encouraged”.

In response, Senior Area Engineer Paul Mulligan highlighted how a lot of work had taken place already with regards to exploring third party land ownership along the route.

Ultimately though, he said, only about 2.5km of the road was in their MD, with the remainder in Ballyjamesduff area. It would require more than just council funding to deliver a project of such scale, but the solution could be to do parts of the road year-on-year.

“There are challenges there,” he said.