— Councillor claims project is “unworkable”, but council officials said it aligns with national guidance and the route includes designs which work elsewhere.
A Social Democrats councillor has taken to Facebook and the local media in Limerick to spread inaccurate claims about a contentious cycle route in Limerick City.
The councillor, Cllr Elisa O’Donovan, claimed that the South Circular Road project is a “new proposal” when the design of the active travel route is in keeping with planning conditions set by councillors, who amended the project by a vote.
She also claimed that the project is being built without the council holding “proper consultation”, but the project underwent extensive consultation, including statutory public consultation, and there is an information session planned to outline the details of the plan.
The project, which will serve as a link between Raheen and Dooradoyle to Limerick City Centre, was approved by councillors in 2023. The design for the route includes a mix of cycle paths and low-traffic areas controlled by bollards and local access-only arrangements. It also includes provisions for pedestrians, including extra crossings and safer side street designs.
Limerick City and County Council outlines that the project will “improve safety for all road users; provide a quieter cleaner space over the length of the scheme; enhance the quality of the liveability of the area; and deliver enhanced green and public realm space.”
In response to a set of questions on the issues of consultation, weather the project was a new one, and how workable the cycle route is, a spokesperson for the council said: “The detailed design developed since the grant of planning is as a result of the Part 8 process and is not a new proposal.”
Part 8 is a planning process for projects that the council is building, and it involves councillors voting on projects to approve or reject them.
The spokesperson continued: “There has been extensive consultation on the South Circular Road scheme, including public consultation events, meetings with residents and stakeholders groups, briefings and workshops with elected members. The public consultation for the Part 8 resulted in the receipt of an unprecedented 1,000 plus submissions, all of which were addressed in the CE [chief executive’s] report.”
The council said that the detailed design was “developed in line with Part 8 requirements” and that it then circulated a video of how the scheme will operate on our social media channels and website.
The council also said that it has also invited local residents and stakeholders to a public information event next Tuesday, May 13th. A spokesperson said: “Drawings and the video will be available for viewing at the event, and members of the team will be available to answer queries and clarify details.”
The council’s spokesperson said: “The shared area between Summerville Ave and Laurel Hill has been designed to comply with the traffic requirements in the Cycle Design Manual.”
Cllr Elisa O’Donovan, on her professional Facebook page on April 29th, said: “I am completely opposed to the current design for the South Circular Road active travel scheme. I have spent the last few weeks pleading with the Council to speak to residents, schools and businesses impacted. I am so very disappointed that yet again plans are placed on social media before speaking with communities.”
A video of the plans, which was put on social media as well as the council’s website, shows a design that is in line with the planning process.
Following her Facebook post, a local newspaper, the Limerick Post, also interviewed Cllr O’Donovan. The resulting article was published in print yesterday and online today.
The article includes how she repeated and expanded on her claims about consultation, even seeking a fresh round of public consultation when the project is nearing its construction phase.
Cllr O’Donovan told the Post that “For the Council to publish these plans online and confirm that they are going ahead before a single resident has been consulted and while councillors are still asking to see the case studies is deeply disappointing.”
Referring to the Part 8 process, Cllr O’Donovan said a “number of amendments were made to the scheme to facilitate the feedback from local residents and businesses” — which is a normal part of the Part 8 planning process.
However, she added that she was “very concerned that this project will be driven ahead without proper consultation on the significant changes to the layout and access along the South Circular Road/Henry Street and side streets.”
A Part 8 process is approved when councillors vote on it, no further consultation is required, and an amended project is not legally viewed as a new one unless it is outside the scope or scale of the original project.
She said that people who live along the route will know that she walks and cycles the route “regularly and I am not opposed to active travel measures,” but claimed that the “new scheme is not workable”.
Made attempts to confirm what Cllr O’Donovan meant when she said that the project is “unworkable”. These attempts were unsuccessful but she claimed that she “proposed this scheme” to start with, before telling this publication not to contact her again.