Rural areas of County Waterford will only see 1.4% of a €25.2m funding allocation for measures in 2024 under the Active Travel Scheme.
Cllr. John Pratt told the February Plenary meeting of Waterford City and County Council that only €356,000 out of the €25.2m allocated to Waterford is going to rural areas.
Cllr. Pratt says if rural areas received 10% of that funding, it would be €2.5m which could deliver Active Travel measures in smaller towns and villages.
"It's great to see the funding that was announced, but the reality is that out of the €25.2 million, €356,000 was actually given to rural areas, which is equivalent to 1.4%, which I think is absolutely disgraceful, to be honest. If we only got 10% of that, we'd have €2.5 million and what could be delivered in the rural and the smaller towns and villages would be phenomenal because you get a lot more bang for your buck."
He has suggested that Waterford Council write to Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to reverse the policy of favouring urban areas over rural areas regarding Active Travel funding.
"I'm asking once again, that we write to Minister Eamon Ryan and the current government to try and reverse that and at least give us our just desserts. Give us what we deserve, and we'll deliver on it. We haven't been found wanting in the past. When projects were sent our way, we got them over the line and there are shovel-ready projects there. I know that this is national policy, but I would ask that we follow this up."
Director of Services with the local authority, Fergus Galvin, agreed to write to the Department of Transport to express concern.
"Cllr. Pratt asked if we would write to the Minister expressing our disappointment with the level of grant aid for rural areas, and we can certainly do that."
