Grangegorman rat running could be back due to opposition

One of Ireland’s only recent examples of a low traffic neighborhood, the filtered permeability at Grangegorman Lower, is understood to be at risk due to strong opposition.

The filtered permeability trial mainly includes bollards and planters across the street, which stop through motor traffic and blocks rat running. This helps enable school children to walk and cycle to school more safely.

Locals residents who are campaigning for calming streets fear that the trial might not be made permanent due to strong opposition.

Opponents have claimed thar rat running wasn’t such a big problem and that they had never seen speeding on Grangegorman Lower, but this was contradicted by supporters who said school children were hit by motorists and that speeding was the norm on the street.

The claim that speeding was common is now also back up by speed counting data released by Dublin City Council which shows motorists traveling at 60km/h on the street, even after the limit was reduced to 30km/h.

The modal filter on Grangegorman Lower also has the potential to act as part of a wider safe cycle route stretching from the south side, across the Liffey linking with the Liffey Cycle Route, up Queen Street, and to Cabra and Phibsboro and beyond.

Dublin City Council is seeking feedback until December 1 to covidmobility@dublincity.ie, preferably with the subject line “Grangegorman Trial Feedback”.

There’s also currently mixed views among Central Area Committee councillors.

At the end of last week, a spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: “The Grangegorman Filtered Permeability scheme was introduced as a trial in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was installed as part of a suite of measures some of which are described in more detail in the recently published paper: “Enabling the City to Return to Work, Interim Mobility Intervention Programme for Dublin City”.

She said: “The trial commenced on the morning of 6th July 2020 with the introduction of filtered permeability measures on Grangegorman Lower. The measures were implemented on a trial basis, the duration of which was initially set to run for a four week period until 2nd August 2020. A decision was then due to be made on whether the trial should be made permanent / extended or removed. However, at subsequent Central Area Committee meetings, the elected members proposed and agreed that the end-date of the trial should be extended for specific periods to facilitate feedback from the Councillors on whether the trial should be removed, amended or extended for a specific period.

The council said that the current end date of the trial is set for January 31, 2021 and that a report on the trial is due to be presented to local councillors at the January 2021 Central Area Committee Meeting.

“In this report and subsequent presentation, Dublin City Council make recommendations on the future of the scheme. The report will capture among other things, the feedback of residents and other stakeholders such as yourself. Following the presentation of the report, Councillors will provide feedback on whether the trial should be removed, extended for a specific period or made permanent”, the council spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: “We have carried out and continue to carry out extensive consultation on this scheme. Since the commencement of the Grangegorman Filtered Permeability Trial, Public Consultation has involved elements such as: Over 11,000 Leaflets distributed to local residents & stakeholders; Consultation with local schools, the University, health care centres and other relevant stakeholders via phone and email; Covid Mobility updates issued by the Chief Executive at Area Committee Meetings; Presentations at Central Area Committee Meetings; Updates on the trial publicised via the Dublin City Council Twitter and Facebook accounts; and Information published on the DCC Consultation Hub.”

READ MORE: City council’s consultation hub for the trial.