At the moment, Fingal Councillors are meeting in 7 hour-long meetings to consider the response to the public consultation on the Draft Development Plan and decide on proposed amendments to the draft.

The Council plans to resurface part of Stockhole lane south of the junction with Baskin Lane. I have made the following observation in response to the public consultation on the temporary closure:

If we are to achieve the necessary improvement in conditions for walking and cycling to achieve national and local goals for road safety and climate, we need to ensure that that all maintenance and repair work on roads avails of the opportunity to improve conditions for active travel.

In this instance, the road to be resurfaced lacks a footpath over most of the stretch to be resurfaced and is unpleasant for cycling. The M1 motorway and R139, R132 and R107 regional roads provide alternatives for all potential through trips. Therefore there is no reason for this road to be used by motor vehicles for anything other than local access to/from Stockhole and Baskin Lanes. 

In these circumstances, the road layout should reflect this purpose and be designed to prioritise active travel access. These examples from the Netherlands  http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2009/07/country-road.html and France https://actu.fr/occitanie/villeneuve-la-comptal_11430/aude-une-voie-innovante-ou-les-velos-ont-la-priorite-dans-un-village-du-lauragais_49069204.html show the road markings appropriate in these circumstances.

My observation to the public consultation which closes today focuses, in particular, on

• the need to ensure active travel is fully incorporated into the road and street maintenance process, and
• ensuring planning applications deliver quality environments for walking and cycling.

The first Strategic Housing Development planning application at Auburn SHD was turned down by An Bord Pleanála. (See my submission here.) A new application has come in with some minor changes, but still with no walking routes northward to connect up with Malahide and the Swords Road (and 102 bus route). So my observation again points to the accumulation of policy which commits to ensuring that new residential areas are walkable and asks An Bord Pleanála to follow national, regional, county and local policy.

My observation on the Strategic Housing Development planning application at Broomfield, Malahide is here. The main points are:

• The application is for a very car-dominated and child-hostile environment. It would be much better to group the car parking near the Back Road and provide for a pedestrian-oriented estate layout, with motor vehicle access for deliveries only.
• To minimise walking distances to the town of Malahide, public transport and local amenities, there should be a walking and cycling access from the north of the proposed housing area to Back Road.
• The applicant should be required to reserve a route to facilitate the active travel access route between the Back Road and Malahide Community School proposed in the draft Fingal Development Plan following recommendations from a report by Sustrans.
• The applicant here should be required to incorporate a school in their application or reserve and allocate a site for a primary school.

My submission is here, covering the following topics:

• Ecological restoration
• Water Framework Directive
• Assessment of climate impact of development proposals
• Fossil fuel infrastructure
• Solar energy
• Nature-based solutions and biodiversity co-benefits on the coast
• Baldoyle and Kilbarrack Industrial Estates
• Roadside signage
• Restriction of advertising
• Circular Economy
• Howth West Pier infill proposal
• Access to Balscadden Beach
• Car parking “norms”
• Actions towards filtered permeability
• Indicative Cycle/Pedestrian Routes
• Local Objectives and various policies and objectives
• Duty of active dissemination of environmental information
• Local objective to recognise Bathing Waters
• Public Rights of Way
• Sewage overflows and unplanned discharges
• South Fringe/North Fringe development area and orbital public transport

My comments on the draft design are here. The main points are:

• The proposal is very welcome and the design is greatly improved from the previous versions.
• However, there are a number of changes which I recommend, in particular full segregation between walking and cycling on the route, given how busy it will inevitably be with existing and new population and the many visitors which the route itself will help to attract.

My observation to ABP in relation to the latest application on this site is here. The development should be scaled back to respect the natural and architectural context of the site, in particular the Martello Tower on Tower Hill. The underground car parking should be removed from the application. My observations on previous applications are here and here.

My response to the public consultation on the Dart + North project focusses on

• the fact that the analysis doesn’t demonstrate how the proposal for a shuttle service between Howth and Howth Junction might be justified;
• the fact that an increase in frequency to Howth would not compensate for longer and more inconvenient journeys especially for those with mobility challenges;
• the design disaster of the illegally constructed Howth Junction station;
• the need to redevelop Howth Junction as part of a densification of the adjoining employment areas so well served by public transport; and
• the need to ensure coherence between the level crossing plan in this project and that in the Sutton to Malahide Cycle Route.