There’s a call for it to be a condition of planning permission that forestry owners contribute to local road improvement schemes when trees are being cut and taken away.
The issue of damage to roads by heavy trucks working on forestry operations has been an issue throughout the north west for some time, and has been raised at council meetings in Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal.
Now, a Sligo county councillor is proposing that forestry owners applying for a felling licence and a loading bay would have to adhere to a condition of planning requiring them to contribute to the Community Involvement Scheme and the Local Improvement Scheme.
Fine Gael Councillor Gerard Mullaney says the local authority would determine the size of the contribution which, he said, should be ‘meaningful.’
