Car-free Capel Street gets green light from local councillors

— Legal threats made again to councillors ahead of meeting today.

Capel Street is planned to be motor traffic-free from next month following local councillors supporting the plan at a meeting this morning.

The support from Central Area councillors follows the latest public consultation where 91% of all 1,766 submissions were supportive of Dublin City Council’s plan for a motor traffic-free street.

Cllr Declan Meenagh (Labour) said: “We have voted for a traffic-free Capel Street, to start in a month! Really looking forward to this development for the city.”

Cllr Janet Horner (Green Party) said: “The proposal is warmly supported by local Councillors this morning. So get set for a transformed Capel Street in the coming weeks!”

UPDATED at 3:10pm: Dublin City Council has just released a statement confirming it plans to proceed with a car-free Capel Street. The council said: “Dublin City Council would like to announce that it intends to proceed with plans to make Capel Street Traffic Free, apart from deliveries between 6.00am and 11.00am.”

The council said: “Details will be issued in the next couple of days regarding access routes and implementation date, while leaflets will also be distributed throughout the area advising residents and businesses of the new arrangements.”

Legal threats

It’s understood that vague legal threats were again made by Dublin Town against the plan to councillors ahead of the councillor’s meeting this morning.

As reported on Monday, the council’s report on the public consultation quoted thinly veiled legal threats in submissions from both Dublin Town and a group of mainly car parking owning businesses. Both outlined how some unstated persons, businesses or group would take legal action if the council proceeded with its plan.

The quote from the Dublin Town submission is as follows: That there is a “fear that the current process could have a polarising effect, resulting in objections and the pursuance of legal actions, that can be avoided, but which would make future collegiate efforts more difficult. They may also only serve to delay the positive interventions which would enhance the city experience for all.”

And the submission quote from Jervis Shopping Centre, Ilac Shopping Centre, Ilac and Parnell Carpark and Arnotts — ie mainly car park owners or operators — said: “the current process also increases the likelihood of legal based responses which could lead to court challenges, injunctions and appeals”.

Just 6 businesses on Capel Street objected to plan, and, of the business submissions, 53 identical submissions were received from businesses — the report said these were “mainly from businesses in the Jervis Centre, fourteen from Louis Copeland staff and 24 from unknown businesses who didn’t include their business name or location”.

ALSO READ: 91% of all Capel Street submissions support plan for motor traffic-free street


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2 comments

  1. Blackrock Village needs to sort better connection to the Blackrock Park cycle lane- that daft tiny lane by the Dart station is beyond a joke at this stage. The alternative is to cross lanes and have to cycle along the footpath to access the top end of the Park entrance from the Village.

    Reply
  2. Yeah I got slagged off on Monday by a group of men on narrow-wheeled bikes as I lumbered through that lane on my clunky folder with its panniers, for going ‘too slowly’. The main guy wasn’t in lycra and was in his 60s I’d say. I had to tell him I was recovering from a knee injury before he’d shut up. Depressing to see impatience spreading from the motorised road user to the cyclist, but a wider lane would have made all that moot.

    Reply

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