Report Paul Murphy
The link between The Traitors adventure competition and the Spire of Lloyd has not been capitalised on – and the fault lies with Meath County Council, a Kells councillor said today. Fine Gael Cllr Sarah Reilly has hit out strongly at the council’s failure to produce a long-awaited amenity plan for the famous site. She was speaking at this weeks meeting of Kells Municipal District. She said that she wanted to highlight a “missed opportunity” in failing to fully capitalise on Lloyd’s prominent involvement in the production of The Traitors. “I watched the show every week, waiting to see whether Lloyd would appear in that week’s challenge and I was genuinely proud when it featured as part of the final challenge in what has become an immensely popular and internally celebrated series”
Cllr Sarah Reilly has called on the missed opportunity in promoting Kells with the traction that the popular programme Traitors has brought to a large audience and questions the delay in why Meath Co Co has not progressed the Lloyd Amenity Plan.
”Yet the Traitors has been and gone – and we have done nothing to promote Lloyd’s connection to it. We frequently criticise the Opw for not doing enough to open or promote the historic gems in our area but in this instance the failure to market and showcase Lloyd rests squarely with us”, she said.
CONCERNED ON LACK OF ACTION
The councillor said that last May the Kells Municipal District councillors received a presentation on the Lloyd amenity plan. We were told we would receive a further presentation in September and that the plan would go on public display afterwards. None of that has happened and I am increasingly concerned about the delay and the clear lack of momentum behind this project”.
She said that responses given by the council to queries she had raised were not adequate and not proper. No major public project should grind to a halt because one staff member is unavailable. The council processes should be stronger than that and progress should not fall on the shoulders of one single individual, she said.
Cllr Reilly said that the stated vision for the project outlined at the MD meeting in May lacked ambition and failed to inspire. While the plan did propose expanded play facilities, that ambition was not reflected in the vision. The concept of a community facility was also underrepresented. Her council colleague Sean Drew had called for playing pitches while Cllr Michael Gallagher had asked for toilet facilities to be installed and she had supported these suggestions. She herself had called for a specific dog walking area. She said she now expected all of these suggestions to be addressed in a presentation which should take place in January.
