Fine Gael Cllr Sarah Reilly asked at the Kells Municipal District if a design had been completed for the extension of the local cycleway-walkway. She said that last December she had a notice of motion down asking that the councillors would be given a view of the plan in January 2026. They were now almost into the June meeting and things were dragging on, she said. A revised plan for Lloyd was to be shown and that had not materialised.
She found that very frustrating. I can’t understand why we are waiting so long for this plan to be published. There was progress made on it but now it seems to be at a complete standstill”, she said.
The people of Kells were very lucky to have such an asset on their doorstep but the council should be developing it and it should be there for public viewing, more should be made of it. The Traitors TV programme had come and gone “and we have not capitalised on the viewership and the publicity”.
She said she was asking in the strongest possible way to see the plan at the next MD meeting where the issue could be prioritised. Council official Des Foley said that that could be arranged for June. He said it was coming to a stage where a presentation would be made to the councillors.

Kells Public Realm

On a separate issue – the Kells town public realm plan – FG Cllr Eugene Cassidy said they had been talking for a long time about this plan. He wanted it to be pushed on. He said the proposed one-way system for the town would have a big effect on the public realm plan. If a revised one-way system was published then they were in a far stronger position to push ahead with the PRP. The cllr said that most of the work had been done and it could come together very quickly if the transport section made a call on the one-way system.

Cllr Sean Drew said he would like to see progress on some of the public safety works in pedestrian areas of the town. Smaller type works could be done while they were waiting for the public realm plan to come in. There was a “watered down” version of the traffic plan leaving the main street as a two-way traffic system and the side streets one-way. He would like to see an updated report from the council.

Independent Cllr David Gilroy raised a separate issue, the receipt by councillors of an email seeking landowners to submit their lands to be considered under the Green Energy Park and asking for expressions of interest. He would like to have more information about this and to enquire what criteria were attached so that councillors could ask questions if asked by landowners.

Cathaoirleach Cllr Sean Drew said he supported Cllr Reilly’s remarks on the Lloyd plan. He felt the plan as “being left on the back burner”.
The Office of Public Works has been in contact with the council and it is expected that councillors will be given a tour of the ongoing works at the Round Tower in the town.

Kells Pool More Opening Hours Wanted

The cathaoirleach said he was getting a lot of calls from members of the public about the availability at the town’s swimming pool. They would look for more opening hours but this would need more resources. The pool was very popular and there was high demand for it and perhaps they could look at the pricing structure if they needed to put more resources into the project. Council official Mr Foley said the pool was open 80 hours a week, split between 50-50 between public hours and group hours. Discussions were ongoing with the Kells Swimming Club about the possibility of extending the hours, especially in the mornings.