AARON KENT
Speaking at the Council’s meeting for the Comeragh district in January, Independent Councillor Declan Clune asked if Waterford council should spend time and money on the footpath by Fiddown Bridge, given that it only benefits people from Kilkenny.
“Fiddown bridge, the situation is a bit unusual because Kilkenny County Council are responsible for their half and we are responsible for our half.
In recent times it is the gateway into Waterford County, it’s dirty looking, it’s unkempt, there’s a footpath there that’s overgrown.
The footpath is absolutely no benefit to people on the Waterford side. It is on the Kilkenny side, where they could walk down as far as Piltown, or Fiddown, walk across the bridge, get youe steps in or whatever.
“I don’t see why we should be spending time, money, resources on keeping that footpath clean and tidy for the benefit of Kilkenny people as opposed to Waterford people.”
Cllr. Clune went on to question if the Council could take away the footpath completely.
“I wonder over time would it possible to get that footpath completely removed? Because I can’t see us putting footpaths from Portlaw out to Fiddown bridge anytime soon. It is zero benefit so I don’t see why we should maintain something that is not going to benefit our people.”
I response, an official from the Council’s road’s department, committed to looking into the matter. “We’ll have to look at that. It’s more of a plinth than a footpath. It’s more of a protection. Our responsibility would be to maintain and clean that area, but we’ll have a look at it.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
