A High Court judgment which blocked a proposed 6-month trial of a cycle route on Strand Road in Sandymount in Dublin has today been overturned by the Court of Appeal. The project included making the road one-way for cars.
The judgment was delivered today after a long wait when the Court of Appeal reserved judgment in February 2023. The High Court ruling, which was appealed by Dublin City Council, had been in favour of Peter Carvill, of the Serpentine Avenue, Tritonville and Claremont Roads (STC) group, and Cllr Mannix Flynn (independent).
The central issue in the case is the workings of Section 38 of the Road Traffic Act, which is used by councils to implement traffic calming and walking, cycling and bus priority measures. Issues raised included whether the council had the powers to run the trail as proposed, if the cycle route was in fact going to be a trial, and whether the council followed good procedure.
The case included three days in the High Court which was heard by Justice Charles Meenan in 2021, another three in the Court of Appeal and 28 affidavits. The Court of Appeal case was heard by High Court President David Barniville, now Supreme Court Justice Maurice Collins, and Justice Mary Faherty,
ALSO READ: TIMELINE: Strand Road cycle path: From a proposed 6-month trial during Covid to a legal saga lasting years with a chilling effect on cycle route rollout.
The Court of Appeal has concluded that the High Court judgment was wrong in ruling that planning permission was required.
It is far from satisfactory that no written record of the Section 38 was made by the council. The Court said that STC’s legal team had the chance to cross-examine Brendan O’Brien, head of the council’s transport department, on the issue of his evidence in affidavits giving evidence that the trial would be temporary, but didn’t do so.
The High Court judge has erred in his ruling that there was nothing to support the idea that the trial would be temporary.
The justices found that full environmental EIA screening was not required, and the High Court judge erred.
The Court of Appeal also found that the scheme did not require planning permission.
The Court of Appeal criticised the lack of guidelines for Section 38 from the national government, although guidelines have been put in place since. The lack of a written decision for the council in making a written decision was also criticised.
The Court ruled that the case was not moot because the city council plans to proceed with the scheme in the future, so the outcome of the case was “concrete” and not abstract.
The issue of costs is to be deferred until Friday May 2nd.
This is great news for cycling infrastructure in Dublin, hopefully it sets a precedent for future projects.
That’s great news due to the uncertainty that this brought to projects all over the country, but one thing still needs to be explained: how could it take two years to produce a ruling when the conclusion was as simple as:
1. “there was nothing to support the idea that the trial would be temporary.”
2. “full environmental EIA screening was not required”
3. “the scheme did not require planning permission.”
I had the same thoughts. Apparently the judgement runs to 200 pages though. I think there were 10 points to be answered. Id also like to understand how the original high court judgement (justice Mehhan i think) turned out as it did. Hard to understand from my viewpoint.
@David: This 2021 article outlining how bad the High Court judgment is might help: https://irishcycle.com/2021/08/02/strand-road-cycle-route-on-trial-parts-of-judgment-reads-like-a-transcript-of-newstalk-show/
About bloomin’ time – a dangerous route to cycle, with a lot of fast, close overtaking traffic.
Next they really need to get the finger out and join Strand Road to the Booterstown Dun Laoghaire Council cycle lane that just stops dead when it enters DCC territory in the middle of a heavy traffic road.
And not forgetting that absurdly stupid narrow lane when you exit Blackrock Park by the Dart Station.
No doubt we’ll be waiting 20 yrs for any of these to be sorted….
And about time. Hopefully costs will follow the judgment and those who sought to block the project will be faced with a significant bill.
DLRCC has an agreement outlined with the owners of Deep Well to move the boundary wall in about 4 metres at the Blackrock Dart Station path you mention. As to when the works will be undertaken…
Don’t hold your breath, DLRCC have been monumentally slow in delivering approved and designed infra in the last 2 years. Lot on their plate and not many resources to do the building.
I think they (DLRCC) lost their head of sustainable transport in that period. I believe that someone who was doing that role or something similar died in the last couple of years. Very young as far as I know and incredibly skilled & knowledgeable.
Wait…. is there a possibility that Mannix will have to foot the cost of this farce?
Now please sort out that death trap East link bridge, surely a structure creating its own revenue stream can provide a cycle friendly route.
There is a tiny lane to the left of the existing car lanes but it certainly could be better. The cycle lane on Sean Moore Rd is in one of the worst states of any cycling infrastructure in Dublin, and that’s saying a lot.
A parallel bridge is in the works for pedestrian and cyclists. Also a connecting bridge over Dodder from Pigeon house road (at St Patrick’s rowing club) to Sir John rogerson’s quay is in pre Planning.