Blackhead Path: An Update
Back in January of this year, when I was still on MEA Borough Council, Councillors approved an option to spend £370K to get the Blackhead path fully open again. This was for work in the vicinity of the Lighthouse.
I have been liaising with my colleagues on the Council – especially the ones representing Whitehead (Larne Lough area) Cllrs McKinty and Wilson and it is clear that they have been completely kept in the dark since then by the Council Directors. Cllr Andy P Wilson has been asking for an update since September and has only now been given answers. What they have just been told is this:
After Councillors approved the £370K repair and reopen option, a consultancy firm AECOM was appointed. Initial site meetings took place in late February and Mid-March at which point it was identified that the front portion of the path nearest the carpark required urgent work. Condition reports on the whole of the path were received in late April, with further reports in June and early July in relation to the necessary work required to progress the project as a whole. None of this information was relayed to elected Councillors.
As a result of these condition reports a number of additional surveys were required to be carried out, for example a geophysical investigation, a drone survey and a topographical survey. These surveys are still being completed, and the senior officers of the Council are having an internal meeting at the end of this month to review the outcome of those surveys and to plan the next steps forward. Whilst initially Mid and East Antrim Council believed £370K would deal with the rock fall at the lighthouse it now looks like a much more significant piece of work is required on the entire path.
What has become clear over the last two weeks is that:
1) Elected reps, or certainly myself and my party colleagues were not told of the complications discovered or the fact that the plan approved in January was not implemented
2) More importantly, the general public especially the people of Whitehead have not been kept in the loop
3) To properly fix the problems and get the full path safely reopened is going to cost big money, which has not been budgeted for by the Council
4) The Council will have to make very big decision in the very near future regarding what course of action to take
5) The Ulster Unionist Party is fully committed to the full restoration and reopening and extension of the Blackhead Path. However, the Council is dominated by a different party which in turn is dominated by a different electoral area with different priorities.
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