Warm welcome for Allotment call

Cllr Keith Martin has warmly welcomed the publishing of an advertisement seeking land for the provision of allotments by Westport Town Council. 

 

According to Cllr Martin this "is the first step towards realising the aim of a Municipal Allotments scheme here in Westport and there is sure to be great interest in the scheme. 

"This scheme, when established, will allow Westport's citizens to develop sustainable and local foods for their own consumption and allow for food security and the combating of climate change through greater self-sufficiency.  Allotments are also a logical response to recent food price inflation."

 

"Allotments will be ideal in Westport because of the large number of flats and apartments without any gardens and the number of houses with tiny gardens will mean that there are a large number of people who will welcome the opportunity to grow their own vegetables.

 

"But allotments are about so much more than growing your own food or flowers, allotments are also about exercise, teaching children about growth and nature, social interaction with neighbours and getting out of the apartment and having your own small bit of outdoor space on the ground.

 

"I called for an Municipal Allotments Scheme in my first submission on the Westport Town Development Plan back in May 2008 and have worked with the other councilors to ensure that it was adopted as council policy in the current 5-year Development Plan which is now in effect.   This is another step forward in making Westport a greener and more sustainable town and it is to be warmly welcomed and a fine example of councillors responding to the needs of their constituents."

The Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux (OICTJF), a Luxembourg-based organization representing three million European allotment gardeners since 1926, says allotments allow a better quality of urban life through the reduction of noise, the binding of dust, the establishment of open green spaces in densely populated areas and provide meaningful leisure activity and the personal experience of sowing, growing, cultivating and harvesting healthy vegetables amidst high-rise buildings and the urban jungle.

Other benefits according to the OICTJF are
for children and adolescents a place to play, communicate and to discover nature and its wonders;
for working people relaxation from the stress of work;
for the unemployed the feeling of being useful and not excluded as well as a supply of fresh vegetables at minimum cost;
for immigrant families a possibility of communication and better integration in their host country;
for disabled persons a place enabling them to participate in social life, to establish contacts and overcome loneliness;
for senior citizens a place of communication with persons having the same interests as well as an opportunity of self-fulfillment during the period of retirement.

 

 

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Faithfully

Cllr Keith Martin
086 0691182

Chief Whip Pat Carey to replace O'Dea?

Is Pat Carey TD, pictured above going to replace Willie O'Dea, pictured here

Golf Course Road go-ahead

Golf Course Road resident and Leas Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council, Cllr Keith Martin, has warmly welcomed the signing of the contract for the new public park on the site of the Bog Field.  The new park on the Golf  Course Road will provide a playing pitch, a park area and cycling and walk way. 

According to Cllr Martin, "This is great news for the area and not before time, the children and residents of the area will greatly benefit from having a safe area to exercise and play.  The park will be completed to the highest standards and is only possible due to the sale of a portion of the area to provide a site for the new Gaelscoil building.

"This is only the first stage of the project, later stages will see two play-areas for children, and the final stage of two basketball/volleyball parks will be realised when the Gaelscoil is completed.

"This is great news and this park will set the model for areas like the Quay and will greatly add to the quality of life in our town.  I have supported this project from the beginning and I am delighted at the progress made.  An official sod-turning ceremony will take place shortly."

Wait continues for Westport Gaelscoil

Westport's Gaelscoil is to begin construction at its new site on the Golf Course Road sometime between April and June of this year according to Minister for Education and Science's Batt O'Keeffe.  This is despite the school's non appearance on the Departments' Schools Building Project list for 2010.

 

Minister O'Keeffe was responding to a Parliamentary Question posed in the Dail by Labour's Education Spokesperson Ruairi Quinn at the request of Westport Town Councillor Keith Martin.

 

According to Minister O'Keeffe "The project to which the Deputy refers was recently tendered. The Design Team is currently addressing a number of post tender clarifications with the preferred bidder. When this process is complete and assuming that no further issues arise the project will proceed to construction. It is anticipated that the project will commence construction in Quarter 2 of 2010."

 

Cllr Martin who has long been an advocate for the school and who famously posted back a sod turned by Minister O'Keeffe on the school's site in the run up to last year's local election says he is adopting a "wait and see" approach to the Minister's promises.

 

According to Cllr Martin "This school has been promised for too long and too many promises have already been broken for me to take this news at face value.  The school has been waiting almost 15 years for a building of its own.  It has proved its success and the pupils and staff deserve their much promised building.

 

"However the story of this school is a series of disappointments by Government.  The school was promised in early 2006 with a delivery date of mid-2007.  It remained in planning limbo for two more years until out of the blue in May 2009 Batt O'Keeffe and Beverly Flynn fly into Westport accompanied by local FF councilors to throw a sod in the air!

 

That sod soon landed with a thud back on the Minister's desk when I posted it back to him.  Its ten months since he threw the sod and there's still no school.  I take the Minister's latest commitment with a tablespoon of salt!  No-one will be happier than I to see that school begin construction but I'm not holding my breath."

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Faithfully

Cllr Keith Martin
086 0691182