— Chamber of Commerce frustrated that “central focus of our village will remain in Its current state for the foreseeable future”.
Funding set aside by Fingal County Council to implement a redesign of Malahide’s New Street to suit its pedestrianisation will be used to defend a legal challenge to the project and funding from the National Transport Authority is at risk, according to an update given by Malahide Chamber of Commerce to its members.
As reported by The Irish Times in April, the case is being taken by Nicola Byrne, a company director who lives on Old Street, Malahide. The businesswoman unsuccessfully ran for the Progressive Democrats.
As previously reported, 22 councillors voted for the full redesign of the street, with nine against and another five abstaining.
The Malahide Chamber of Commerce update to its members was posted by “Save Malahide Village”, a group set up to oppose the pedestrianisation.
The Malahide Chamber of Commerce update said: “The meeting [with Fingal County Council officials] was very positive and there are lot of projects we can collaborate on and we can work together to help our business community and Malahide as a whole.”
Listed as one of the issues discussed was: “New Street — Pedestrianisation The Chamber asked FCC what was the situation regarding New Street and what could works be carried out in the short term to improve the current look of the street FCC updated the Chamber that since a judicial review is now in progress regarding the pedestrianisation of New Street, that no or limited works will be able to be carried out on New Street but that new planters had been put on the street.”
The Chamber said: “They noted that due to the judicial review, they had lost the grant secured to develop New Street. In addition, the funds set aside in their budget for the street development would now be spent defending the review. They estimated that the review could take 2-3 years and that during this time. New Street will remain as it currently is. It is unclear if FCC [Fingal County Council] will then secure a new grant should they successfully defend the Judicial review and whether the street will be able to be finished as originally envisaged should works commence.”
“The Chamber expressed frustration that the street which is the central focus of our village will remain in its current state for the foreseeable future but understood that FCC would legally be unable to progress with plans for the street. The Chamber will continue to engage the FCC and hope that In the short term the street can look as well as possible until the matter is resolved,” the Chamber said.
Irish planning process in a nutshell. An unmitigated shambles.
Sorry to be picky. But what you are seeing now is a legal process. Planning process finished with the Council approval.
https://savemalahidevillage.com/petition/ was the petition opposing the pedestrianisation of this street. It claims 2,000 signatures presumably from locals.
This is actually a rare example of the Irish planning system allowing local people to appeal a taking.
This reduces the value of local businesses and the homes of affected residents.
In any pedestrian or cycle project, some people are losing access to roads or parking. Natural justice says they should be compensated.
Show me some evidence of house prices falling?
I just don’t get why a business owner would want to deprive their own area of attractive amenities.
I’d say more likely because it may have a measurable negative impact on the business rather than simply ‘ wanting to deprive the area of attractive amenities’ – there were a few examples in Capel Street etc – you have to realise that some business are more suited to having ability to park a car near them to load heavy items . Tins of paint or whatever – so while other types of business may benefit greatly with pedestrianisation – its not the case that ALL do – hence there are objections for some people ( who lets be honest are better positioned to judge the impact on their business than you or I might be and so they rightly take whatever legal or planning routes they need to protect the business. These things are often more complicated than they look .
Are you familiar with Malahide village? New Street is literally >90% pubs, restaurants, and cafés. There’s one food shops, but it’s a bakery/expensive ingredients Donnybrook Faire – not where you’d be doing a weekly shop. There’s an antique/curio shop, and two estate agents. There’s a very small garden centre at the Main Street end, but literally nothing else there would you need a car to bring anything home.
It wasn’t before covid. Unfortunately its become a hospitality monoculture, which could have been avoided had this been done better. And the fixation on this one street has come at the expense of walking and cycling in Malahide village as a whole. Cycling down Main St is a trying experience.
That shift was happening long before COVID and the pedestrianisation. Take a look at streetview. It’s got a shots from 2019, 2017, 2014, 2010 and 2009.