Could it be that the struggle for a by-pass to divert HGV traffic away from the heritage village of Slane is approaching the end game? After almost half a century of campaigning and a complex web of objections about plans, and questions about objections, the answer is, perhaps!

This week Cllr Wayne Harding welcomed a response he received from the director of transport Martin Murray in relation to his question about the further information request by An board Pleanala for the proposed By Pass.

"Mr Murray has said he and his team are eager to answer the request, and I see it as being a positive request by the board” Cllr. Harding told Drogheda Life. “Much of it is environmental and around different habitats and how the development can be mitigated in relation to the biodiversity” he added.

“Over the past few years I have met many of the team working on the compilation of the Slane bypass and public realm plan and have been struck by the level of detail that is going into this.

“It’s actually quite extraordinary. But all questions asked now will only garner more information for the board’s inspectors to digest, in enabling them with all the information needed to adjudicate on their decision.

“What I very much welcome are the questions around how the bypass and public realm plan will complement the proposed Boyne Greenway. And how Slane village will benefit from all these very welcome developments.

“This is an extremely positive and pertinent question that I have no doubt will be very well answered by the project team.

The return of an application after the utterly disappointing refusal of the Slane bypass has been painstaking over the last twelve years, but I have no doubt that this application is water tight and will stand up to the undoubted scrutiny it will come.

“But it cannot be emphasised enough that with this bypass application comes a public realm plan that will return the village to its former glory. The Village will return to some level of normality after horrendous accidents and a constant wave of intolerable traffic".