Report Paul Murphy
A seemingly innocuous item on the agenda of the Ratoath Municipal District meeting for October sparked fierce controversy – mainly over the question of whether cycle lanes were “a good thing”. The councillors Brian Fitzgerald, Gerry O’Connor, Maria Murphy, Nick Killian, Fionnan Blake, Yvonne Everard and Caroline O’Reilly were receiving a presentation from council senior executive engineerDavid O’Reilly on a part 8 planning application for the Dunboyne to Clonee Active Travel Links Scheme. Cycling and walking infrastructure was under discussion.
Dunboyne-Clonee active travel plan stirs fierce controversy
Cllr Killian asked “When are we going to cop on, cycle lanes are not being used. We are spending money left, right and bloody centre on cycle lanes and they are not being used. I have family in Ashbourne and I got there three or four times a week and I never see anyone on the cycle lanes there. We have them in Ratoath and the only one being used there, to be fair, is the one going up the outer relief road. We have 1,000 kids in Ratoath school and the average number of bikes is around 40 or 50 a day. So the kids are not using them and they are the ones we are trying to educate and we’re wasting space there with another two bloody lanes in Clonee. It’s a waste of money”.
Referring to national policies on cycle and pedestrian paths, Cllr Killian said “That was the Greens, they bloody well wanted everyone walking everywhere and they wanted us to live in high rise houses. It was the Greens that brought all that in”. He said councillors were elected by the people and “the people don’t want bloody cycle lanes”.
Nick Killian
The scheme will include junction upgrades “which will improve pedestrian movement” and enhance the public realm predominantly in Clonee. The “red route” would travel from Reask Road, then Station Road, and East along Station Road, through Loughsallagh, through the main street of Clonee and up to the Fingal border. He also traced the “green route” along a greenway. A two-way cycle track would be provided along with pedestrian facilities. Two raised tables would be installed to slow down traffic following residents’ complaints.
Fine Gael Cllr Maria Murphy said it appeared to her a lot of work would have to be done to get the plan across the line with residents’ support. She drew attention to the fact that a planned bus stop at Loughsallagh was outside the home of a resident there and the fact that a shelter was being added meant that the whole aesthetic look of that property would be changed. She suggested the bus stop could be moved somewhat to an area where there would be more space for it. The red route was being funded but the green route was not being funded at present because it was considered recreational, she said. It was her opinion that there needed to be more interaction on schemes in Dunboyne between the council’s active travel transportation section and the planning section.
Cathaoirleach Cllr Brian Fitzgerald said that advanced planning for a new road from the business park right across Clonee and that road was going to be put I place very quickly before houses would be built on Connaughton’s land and Carroll estates. It was easier to put in cycle and pedestrian lanes at that stage “rather than disrupt the whole town” at a later stage.
Independent Cllr Nick Killian said he wanted to highlight the issue of car parking spaces. He had had approaches from residents in Aylesbury who said people were parking their cars there during the day so they can get the bus to Dublin. Mr O’Reilly said there were 30 spaces on the street at the moment and these were of an older standard. He said nine parking spaces would be lost in the plan.
When an illustration showing a cyclist on a cycle path was screened at the meeting Cllr Fitzgerald said “That’s the first cyclist I’ve seen on that and it’s there a long time”.
Cllr Gerry O’Connor said he believed cycleways were not going to be used to any great extent in Clonee. He said there were 420 car parking spaces in Clonee but these were at Lidl, Aldi and the back of the Chinese and the Grasshopper Inn – but these were all private.
Cllr Killian said that when the plan put before the councillors was put in place “that’s when the hit will come for businesses” and Cllr Fitzgerald said “commercially, it’s not fair to take any more spaces away”. Mr O’Reilly said that a parking survey showed that there were a lot of “long-term” parkers along the main street – these were not customers, they were not serving the businesses. In fact,
they tended to be business owners.
Cllr O’Connor said the big issue for him was the loss of a third of car parking spaces in Clonee. The Cathaoirleach said he wanted to make it clear that as the plan was about to be put on public display, that it was not yet accepted by the members of the municipal district. They were only allowing it to be put on public display to allow the pubic to make their comments.
