A plan to proceed to construction on a school safety and accessibility project in a Dublin suburb has been delayed mainly due to what IrishCycle.com understands is a small but vocal level of opposition to the plans, which were first proposed in 2021.
The project — which involves safety and accessibility improvements to help children walk and cycle to Pope John Paul II National School in Malahide — will now undergo wider public consultation.
The proposed measures include upgrading a crossing to a zebra crossing, increasing the number of raised crossings around and on the approaches to the school, making other side street crossings more accessible, a car-free School Street outside the school each morning and afternoon, tightening junctions to slow down approaching traffic and make crossing the road quicker and safer, and footpath works including localised widening and resurfacing.
In this case, the school street is small and will not affect any traffic, and the work overall would be viewed as relatively small-scale and minor in nature. But the opposition to the project is reflected in other areas of Dublin and Ireland, where some residents have often objected to even small-scale changes to improved safety due to a perceived impact on motorists.
It is also understood that there is also no issue in the streets around the school with a lack of parking.
In an email to councillors in the area, Fingal County Council officials outline that “In order to avoid any confusion, we are retrospectively applying” new guidelines for Section 38 of the Road Traffic Acts, a legal means for councils to carry out works on existing streets. As IrishCycle.com covered last year, the new guidelines clarify Irish councils’ powers to install traffic claiming, cycling and bus priority measures permanently or as a trial.
All of the measures proposed under the project relate to traffic claiming under the original Section 38 provision or as cycling facilities under the expanded remit of the legal provision.
The email to councillors that officials had recently notified councillors and the residents that the work “will commence on site imminently”, but now wider public consultation will take place as part of the council’s aim to align all projects with the Section 38 guidelines.
The council said that since the start of planning for the project “considerable progress has been made on design, environmental assessment of the works and public engagement, several meetings have been held with the school and the residents of the area.”
It said the extra consultation will “also allow an additional opportunity for formal public engagement where an online portal shall be open allowing interested parties give their view on the works” and that “Following this we will consider all the submissions and finalise the design before progressing to the construction stage.”
The plans are available to view and comment on from today until August 30th at consult.fingal.ie.
Only thing I can see an issue with in that plan is the uncontrolled crossings at the crossroads the car stop line should be before the crossing points not immediately after them
The tightened junctions would be very welcome there, for all walkers, cyclists and careful motorists, not just for the school.