Questions over ownership of Ballycastle walkway prompt council action

The walkway at the side of Ballycastle’s police station.

(Images: Anne Kelly)

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council has agreed to seek information on the ownership of a popular pedestrian walkway in Ballycastle.

The decision follows a motion put forward by Sinn Féin councillor Cara McShane at the June Corporate Policy and Resources Committee meeting, requesting that council officers contact Greer Hamilton Gailey Solicitors, Ballymoney, to seek any available information regarding the ownership of the unregistered laneway/public walkway adjacent to Ballycastle Police Station.

“The pathway is a well-used pedestrian link between the Ramoan Road and Coleraine Road and is used daily by local residents,” the motion stated.

“Previous enquiries established that the laneway is not in council ownership and that no statutory body has identified responsibility for it.

“Clarification of ownership would assist in determining responsibility for its future maintenance and management.”

During confirmation of the committee minutes at the June council meeting, councillor McShane said the minutes outlined the motion’s requests and noted that other councillors had experienced similar issues elsewhere across the borough.

However, she said the minutes did not confirm that the solicitors would be contacted or that the issue would be raised at a future Partnership Panel meeting, as DUP councillor Darryl Wilson had suggested.

“It doesn’t really say in the minutes that that was agreed,” she said.

“There was just a discussion. Councillor Wilson mentioned it would be prudent to raise these through the Partnership Panel, but it just ends as though we didn’t really decide.”

A council officer said the minutes were accurate because members had not formally agreed to contact the solicitors during the committee meeting.

They added:

“A few of the members of the committee were coming in at the end of that discussion and referring to other places throughout the borough where the circumstances were similar, and that was really how it was left.”

Following councillor McShane’s request at the full council meeting, members agreed that officers should contact the solicitors and that the issue should also be discussed at a future Partnership Panel meeting.