Call for management of local rights of way

Call for management of local rights of way

18 April 2018

COUNCIL officials are being urged to reassert a number of rights of way which formed part of the Ulster Way in East Down.

A coalition of fishermen, wildfowlers, kayakers and environmentalists is lobbying Newry, Mourne and Down Council to act to ensure paths which link Downpatrick and Killyleagh are reopened.

Local councillor Cadogan Enright — who is part of the coalition — said the local authority has a legal duty to keep rights of way open. 

However, he is concerned that despite an increase in the council’s workforce, the level of resources devoted to protecting and reasserting rights of way in East Down has significantly reduced as officers have so many other duties to fulfil.

“I have been promised change in this matter but it has so far not occurred,” Cllr Enright continued. “In my view, the failure to act in the face of the loss of the Ulster Way in East Down over the years is unforgivable.”

The councillor says he carries out wildlife surveys on the islands in Strangford Lough by canoe and claims a locked gate erected at Mullagh Quay has been a hindrance to local kayakers and canoeists.

“This particular location allows 24/7 access to the waterway in all tides,” he said. “The local council has a legal responsibility to serve all the varied and traditional interests of people around Strangford Lough, not just a few individuals who put their needs ahead of the community at large. “These areas need reopened and properly managed for future generations.”

Quoile anglers’ spokesman, Trevor Love, said he and his colleagues been waiting for decades for the local council to “stop talking about this issue and act.”

He continued: “All the required land is in public ownership and the obstacles or vested interests need to be removed or challenged though the courts if needed. There was a time when hundreds of anglers participated in competitions at Easter on the Quoile. Now there are none.”

Mr Love added: “Failure to manage the Quoile barrier properly has damaged the fishery and restrictions on access has damaged leisure pursuits. Access is now difficult to traditional fishing areas on the south bank of the river and the Quoile Barrier.”

Environmentalist Bill Corry believes enough evidence has been collected in the form of statements from a wide variety of users of the old Ulster Way to force the local authority to act.

“There was a danger that none of us would have been around to give evidence if we had waited for  action,” he said. 

“I remember the Quoile Barrier being constructed and was a member of the Ulster Society for the Preservation of the Countryside along with Wilfred Capper when he mapped out the original route of the Ulster Way linking Castleward to Delamont and Killyleagh along this route in the 1970’s. Decades of failure to act in the face of repeated promises is not good enough.”

Billy McCoubrey said wildfowlers in Downpatrick and Killyleagh were “particularly aggrieved” at inaction over access from the council-owned Mullagh Quay on Island Road opposite Gibbs Island. 

He added: “It is not acceptable that traditional routes to and from public assets are denied to local people by individuals who are not challenged by our local council.”