Kings River project in Callan to be ‘shovel ready’ next summer

Plans for a major project on the Kings River in Callan are well underway, a public meeting in the town has been told.

€72,000 was awarded to the Callan Kings River Improvement Project under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme last year. The scheme focuses on projects to enhance and develop towns socially, economically and culturally.

A well attended meeting on Monday night was told that since the grant was announced background planning and design works have been taking place.

It is now hoped that the plans for the Kings River (Avonree) will be announced in about four weeks.

The plan will then have to go through the planning process before works can take place. The schedule is also affected by environmental rules on when work can take place in rivers.

There are a vast amount of rules and regulations dealing with planning and the environment which involve the Office of Public Works, Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Department of the Environment.

An Environmental Impact Study will have to be obtained as part of the planning process.

Local Cllr David Kennedy said the local committee behind the project hope to be ‘shovel ready’ when the window to carry out works opens next summer - between July and September.

Also at the meeting were Cllr Sean Tyrrell and Kathleen Funchion TD.

Among the features that are expected to be included in the plan are measures to stop it silting up as well as making the river more accessible to local people for amenity use.

The committee say they are determined to put in the time and work to see the local river restored to it’s full potential and they are confident this will happen.

Funding of €72,000 represents the full cost of this project. It was granted under the 2017 Town and Village Renewal Scheme. Applications were submitted under a competitive call for proposals.

The selection of projects was undertaken by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs from a competitive process on the basis of applications submitted from all Local Authorities.

Full involvement by community interest and business interests was an essential factor of the successful projects.