A small community near Ballybofey, Co Donegal, has hired consultants to challenge those of the National Roads Authority and the county council in an attempt to prevent a bypass being built through their area.
Local people say their community would be split in half and that up to 100 families would be cut off from church and school. Three roads would have to be closed and some people who built homes close to elderly parents would have to make a five-mile detour to visit them.
One road would remain open, with the bypass going overhead. The others would be closed, forcing some people to travel in a large loop around the town in order to get into the centre.
An action committee has been formed in the Sessiaghoneill and Carrickmagrath area, less than a mile from Ballybofey. Its members say no community impact study was ever done and they believe they are the victims of bad planning and a lack of consultation.
Dr Denis McCauley, a local GP who is spokesman for the committee, points to the fact that one year ago people were getting planning permission to build houses within 100 metres of the route. He says people were informed only at the end of November that this route was one of four being considered by consultants and was the "Emerging Preferred Route". The period to respond was four weeks until December 20th.
"This did not even give us time to get the information we needed to put our objection together," Dr McCauley says. The committee used the Freedom of Information Act to get a copy of a report used by the council's consultants in deciding that the route was the "emerging preferred" one.
A consultant engineer from Scotland, with similar experience to those hired by the council, has been commissioned to come up with what he believes would be the best option for a bypass around Ballybofey/Stranorlar. The committee asked that the deadline be extended to allow his report to be considered before the final recommendation is made.
Mr Aidan O'Doherty, senior engineer responsible for the project, stressed that no final decision has yet been taken on which route will be chosen. He expects the consultants to come back with their final recommendation by the second week of February.
He says he believes the four-week period for responses was "adequate" and in line with other NRA-funded projects, and that the committee would have two further opportunities to object - when it comes before members of the county council because it constitutes a variation of the town development plan, and at a Bord Pleanala oral hearing.
Local people, however, want their views and their consultant's report considered now, because they believe it will be harder to get it changed at a later stage.
Dr McCauley said he decided to get involved in the campaign because so many of his patients, particularly the elderly, were very worried about it. "The two things that concern elderly people is access to their doctor and access to the priest, and that is why they are so worried about this." The church and school at Sessiaghoneill is the focal point for the whole area, and the local priest says the bypass would cut 100 families off from their church.
"If the independent consultant we have hired says it is the best option, we will accept it," Dr McCauley says. "We just want fairness." While no houses will have to be demolished with this route, five houses would be uninhabitable, he believes.
Mrs Maureen Faulkner is one of those who would be most affected. Her mother, Kitty, lives a five-minute walk away on Carrickmagrath Road. If the bypass goes ahead she would have to travel five miles to see her.
"If she needs something now I can be up straight away. She is taking this really bad. She is devastated - she sleeps, drinks and eats this bypass."