Delight as long-awaited plans for motorway link go on display
Last year the people of Buttevant were shocked to discover that it was the only town along the route not to have a link to the proposed 80km (M20) Cork-Limerick motorway, which is to be built at a cost of €800 million.
The community put forward a very forceful case for a junction connection at a lengthy Bord Pleanála hearing last July.
They managed to convince Bord Pleanála inspector Danny O’Connor and he instructed motorway planners to go back to the drawing board and draw up plans for a junction connection.
Tom Sheahan, a former mayor of County Cork who was a member of the Buttevant group which fought for the junction, said he was delighted that the new plans would be unveiled next Monday, March 14.
“I understand the junction will be put in at Knocknare, which is much nearer to the town than even we’d hoped. It meets all our wildest dreams. It will also provide a connection to the Doneraile road,” Mr Sheahan said.
“It’s a major win for us. Fair play to Danny O’Connor, the Board Pleanála inspector who listened to us. It just goes to show that the planning system does work,” Mr Sheahan added.
The people of Buttevant claimed that not providing the town with a link to the motorway would put it at a huge economic disadvantage, especially as the proposed nearest junction connections were to be at Charleville and Mallow — both of which were about 10km away.
They also claimed that it would negate the objective of the County Development Plan (CDP) to reverse the town’s population decline.
McCutcheon Mulcahy consultants, who acted for the locals, also stressed that the lack of a proper motorway connection would stifle population growth and industrial development.
The plans for the new junction will go on display at the M20 scheme design office at Gooldshill, Mallow.
The public will get an opportunity to view them from March 14 to 25 from 9am to 5pm.
