Category Archives: Walking & Cycling / Siúil & Rothaíocht

Land Development Agency commits to prioritising Stapolin Square

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The Land Development Agency (LDA) which recently bought the unbuilt development land at Stapolin, much of which has had a planning permission since 2016 and which has been only partly constructed, has committed publicly to prioritising the completion and opening of the new access to Clongriffin railway station via the planned Stapolin Square.  The commitment was given in a letter to Fingal County Council, noted at today’s meeting.

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Observations on Kinsealy- Station Road Greenway

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I have made the following submission to this public consultation which is open until Sunday 12th January.

1. Kinsealy (Newpark) to Drumnigh Road (including traffic lights at the Drumnigh Road/Station Road junction)

The need for this link has been evident for many years and I have been pushing for it since 2016. It was finally agreed in adopting the Kinsealy Local Area Plan in 2019 that the planning application for this element would be made in 2021. Unfortunately that timescale hasn’t been kept. It is vital that this element be progressed as rapidly as possible. Given the short length of greenway involved, it is possible to advance this the Council’s executive powers, although I would not disagree with the use of Part 8 of the Planning Act.

What I absolutely urge is that this is progressed as soon as possible. I note the support of one of the landowners for this area, and haven’t been able to find any submission opposing this element. Furthermore I think that the design is well worked out and can be implemented rapidly.

I note that the landowner points out that the route matches the proposed treated effluent pipeline route; this is probably simultaneously an opportunity and a challenge. However, it should not be a cause of delay; an interim greenway can be provided if necessary in advance of the final layout.

2. Station Road

Major changes to the western section of Station Road to make it safe for walking and cycling are essential. I think the design needs some further consideration.

In March 2017, seeing housing applications including elements of active travel infrastructure on Station Road, I asked for a report on the intended final design of the road, with particular emphasis on people walking and cycling, and on the connection to the Baldoyle/Portmarnock Greenway.  It was reached at our April Area Committee meeting and following some discussion, also listed as a headed item in June 2017.

April 2017 https://meetings.fingal.ie/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=140&MId=4799&Ver=4

June 2017 https://meetings.fingal.ie/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=140&MId=4814&Ver=4

It was particularly important to raise this because previous housing developments on the north side of Station Road had included fragmented bits of cycle lane in a confusing manner, without proper access or egress. In the discussion it became clear that the planning applications coming in for the Portmarnock South Lands included piecemeal additions to Station Road while there existed neither an outline design nor specific design objectives to compare them against. (The Portmarnock South Local Area Plan is generally supportive, indicating this is an important walking and cycling link, but not detailed.)

I would say however, that what has been provided along the south side of the the eastern section of Station Road is good, needing only some revision at the junctions to emphasise active travel priority over turning movements, in line with the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets and the National Cycle Manual. What we have in essence is a shared space (which from a legal point of view doesn’t have the necessary signage to designate it as such) which is used for walking and cycling in two directions. (In my own case, cycling east on Station Road to get to the Greenway, if I’m coming from the station I use the shared space all of the way from the station to reach the Greenway; if I’m coming from Old Portmarnock, I typically turn right to get onto the shared space at the junction of Station Road and the Avenue. I would mention though that I don’t know what it’s like at the busiest times of day.)

In the intervening years since the discussion in 2017m the Council has done work on the eastbound only cycle track on the north side of the Road which has clarified its use significantly.

We have also had considerable controversy as regards the junctions at both ends of Station Road, including non-compliance with planning conditions requiring the upgrade of the junctions. See https://davidhealy.com/?p=1389for details. This application, including signalisation of the junction is addressing an element which should have been addressed to comply with those planning permissions. (There appears to be a systematic problem within the Council when it comes to enforcing the provision of vital active travel infrastructure required by planning conditions.)

This proposal is for a two-way cycle track along the north side of the road as far as the train station. It’s not clear why the north side of the road has been selected. Some narrative discussion of the design choices would really help those responding to this consultation.

It seems logical that if a two-way cycletrack is being provided on one side of the carriageway, it should be on the south side as this will give a better connection to/from both the train station and the greenway. The design of the shared space section on the eastern end of Station Road may need some minor adjustments. A two-way cycletrack would also shift the impact of the land acquisition to where the impacts on local residents would be less, and would have minor impacts on the development currently under construction (F21A/0378).

Putting the route to the south of the existing carriageway would also make it much easier to address the movement conflicts in the area around the train station and the bridge. At busy times, there are lots of pedestrians coming to or from the station and the proposed elements of shared space on narrow footpaths in the design will not work. The opportunity should be taken for a nice generous overbridge making room for people walking and cycling.

3. Kinsealy village

The layout at the Malahide Road/Chapel Road junction needs attention. I don’t think it’s to the benefit of any road users to provide shared space on the narrow footpath at Kinsealy Cottages. The design needs to consider cyclists accessing and leaving the shared space on Chapel Road when travelling in both directions on the Malahide Road.

4 Further active travel links

Submissions rightly raise the challenges of Kinsealy Lane and the section of Drumnigh Road south of Station Road. It is important to address these and keep them on the agenda.

I understand that a consultant’s report on Kinsealy Lane is due early this year.

A planning application for a pedestrian link between Drumnigh Woods and the new development on Station Road to the southwest of the railway bridge (at the location of F24A/0372) is hopefully imminent and should be granted to make this essential link.

The reopening of the bridge over the railway at Drumnigh Road seems to be straightforward in engineering terms. I hope it will be progressed rapidly. (Report to December 2025 Area Committee: https://meetings.fingal.ie/documents/s108672/Item%20No.%2010%20-%20Report%20on%20Opening%20of%20Railway%20Overbridge%20-%20Drumnigh%20Manor.pdf)

Land Development Agency consultation on Kinsealy

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The Land Development Agency has drawn up proposals for housing on the land formerly used by Teagasc at Kinsealy. This will include a drop-in session on Tuesday 26th from 4pm to 8pm at St. Nicholas of Myra National School. Further information is on their website.

Central issues to be addressed include

  • access from the housing areas to both local schools, including temporary access as the development is planned to go ahead in phases;
  • the long-overdue greenway link from Kinsealy to Portmarnock station (which should have gone to planning in 2021) as well as the other greenway links (to Kettles Lane and Balgriffin)

NTA proposals for improved access to Clongriffin station

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The NTA is tendering for a new lift system in the temporary access tower (stairs and lift) to Clongriffin from Baldoyle, giving access to the railway station and the no. 15 bus. The tender includes a maintenance contract for between 3 and 5 years. They will also install CCTV in the access tower. They are continuing to look at options to improve the environment of the tower itself including better passive surveillance and sightlines. See NTA’s summary of progress.

I am deeply disappointed by Fingal County Council’s decision to accept a planning compliance submission from Richmond Homes, the developer responsible for replacing the temporary access with a permanent plaza on the Baldoyle side of the station which defers completion of the station to a later phase of the development, contrary to the phasing established inthe planning application on their site.

Land Development Agency proposals for Kinsealy are on public display; safe access to schools is a key issue.

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The Land Development Agency is seeking feedback on proposals for housing in Kinsealy on part of the former Teagasc lands.

My initial concern, which I have already fed back to the LDA, is that the project must provide safe access from the existing housing to the Educate Together National School and on to St. Nicholas of Myra National School. This needs to be in the final layout when the development is completed, and logically would be provided from the greenway proposed to be built in phase 1 of the LDA’s plans. But access must also be provided during the construction period, by providing a route through the land reserved for the second phase while the first phase is under construction.

In general the proposal has a welcome emphasis on prioritising walking and cycling. However, development of this land also is reliant on the greenway to Portmarnock station which should have gone to planning in 2021.

Additional issues include

  • the fact that some of the housing is proposed for land identified in the LAP for a school and pitches, amenities the rapidly growing community will require, and
  • the absence of cost rental housing from the development.

Although I immediately raised the safe school access issue with the LDA, and passed on some relevant contact details and background information, I will make a more detailed submission after the election.

Submission in relation to Dart+ Coastal North

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My observations to An Bord Pleanála can be summarised as follows:

  1. I strongly welcome the electrification of the railway to Drogheda.
  2. I am concerned by proposals for infrastructure changes at Howth Junction to facilitate the operation of an enforced transfer at that station for passengers to/from Bayside, Sutton and Howth. The European Investment Bank’s analysis unit, JASPERS, predicts a 50% reduction in passenger numbers due to the enforced transfer. In consequence, they recommended:
    “Further analysis and public consultations should be made on the ideal operating
    model for DART+CN, in particular whether or not to enforce transfer at Howth
    Junction for Howth route trains (with the overall operational consequences this
    implies).”
    The Minister for Transport has asked his Department to follow up with NTA and Iarnród Éireann in relation to the implementation of this recommendation. The only potential operating model which has been presented for the Howth Junction
    transfer infrastructure shows only disbenefits. In the absence of an operating model which shows benefits, this element of the project cannot constitute proper planning and sustainable development.
  3. Iarnród Éireann needs to improve walking and wheeling access to stations, especially where it would enable more direct routes for public transport interchange or to/from local destinations. Safe permanent access is needed at Clongriffin. Sutton Station is being addressed by Fingal County Council as part of the Sutton to Malahide scheme; these two projects need to be integrated and made complementary.
  4. The opportunity which Dart+ Coastal North presents to provide high quality additional bicycle parking to meet future needs should be taken.

Abolishing car parking requirements and developing car-free neighbourhoods – Green Councillors’ submission to consultation on sustainable settlements

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The Green councillors on Fingal County Council have a made a submission to the consultation on Sustainable and Compact Settlements Guidelines run by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Our submission focusses on car parking issues, pointing to good policies adopted in the Fingal Development Plan 2023-2029.

Two aspects of the Fingal Plan are worth copying. First we advocate that minimum parking standards should be abolished from the planning system. The Fingal Plan does this for areas near public transport (which are effectively the entire developed area of Fingal.)

This is not abolishing parking entirely, it is that the planners will no longer require developers to provide more car parking than they want to, i.e. than they think the market is looking for. Our recommendations as regards car parking are informed by the work of planners like Donald Shoup and campaigns such as the Parking Reform Network. We are very conscious that minimum parking requirements have two significant negative effects. Minimum parking requirements reduce housing affordability, and it has been found again and again that removing the parking requirements enables the building of more housing. The cost minimum parking requirements imposes on housing becomes a subsidy which builds in an incentive to car use, contrary to our climate, health and quality of life goals for transport.

Secondly, we recommend that urban areas be designed primarily for walking, cycling and public transport, and that car parking be clustered rather than spread through out residential or mixed use areas as is often the case. We point to the provision of the Fingal plan providing for car-free neighbourhoods as a good example to be followed nationally. These recommendations are informed by positive experiences in pedestrianising existing areas and by the development of new car-free neighbourhoods in cities and towns across Europe and the world.

Comments on Kilbarrack Road / Oscar Traynor Road cycle route design

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I have sent the following observations to Dublin City Council in response to their public consultation:

Thanks very much for coming to the meeting of the Howth/Malahide Area Committee to present this cycle route.  As Chair of the Committee, I know I speak for the Committee as a whole that we welcome the improvements for active travel that you propose. 
The following comments (some of which were raised at that Committee but are repeated for completeness) are made with the goal of further improvements:

Orcas at junction narrowing

​The consultation document says that ​“radii of all the junctions are tightened up to a maximum radius of 6.0m with road marking.”​ This is very welcome. On the maps,​ in some locations. these are also marked by orcas. In others they aren’t. e.g. Alden Road, Verbena Avenue, Kilbarrack Avenue, St. Margaret’s Avenue etc.​ They should be marked by orcas/bollards at all junctions.​

​N​arrowing of wide side roads at junctions

As well as the radius of the kerb, the width of the road at the junction should be narrowed where it’s very wide (e.g. St. Margaret’s Avenue.)

Tonlegee Road/Raheny Road/ Grange Road junction. ​

This is a r​eal problem junction​ for less confident cyclists​. In the absence of a more fundamental redesign, steps need to be taken to ensure that the use of the junction is ​appropriate for mixed traffic. Maybe ​a)​ a 30km/h speed ​at this junction for the interim scheme​ and b) signage reminding cyclists to take the lane and reminding other road users to expect cyclists to take the lane.​

Kilbarrack Road/Howth Road junction​. 

This junction needs to be addressed in this scheme. There are​ no ​traffic light​ phase​s​ to access​ and leave the​ cycle route.​ The consultation documentation says​ “Cyclists are encouraged to access the existing two-way cycle lane along Howth Road via the proposed toucan crossing.” ​With the narrowness of the footpath, t​his is geometrically difficult for ​users of ​all bicycles, impossible for​ users of​ some​ bicycles (e.g. cargo bikes) at all times and impossible for all bicycles when there are people walking. I understand Fingal has already forwarded correspondence from one cargo bike user describing the diffi​culties she experiences at this junction; if this isn’t to hand, I would be happy to send it on.

Cycle lane width

The width of the cycle lane, stated to be 1.5m, is however showing in the drawings as less than 1.5m because of orcas placed in the cycle lane. They should be outside the cycle lane, between cycle lane and general lane.​

Bus stops

The scheme should provide island bus stops at any opportunity and should consider whether moving bus stops can help with achieving this.

The NTA is also considering how to extend the N6 to the coast as originally planned in the Bus Connects redesign, with a possible terminus at Blackbanks. It would be important to ensure that any new bus stops are well sited.​

Shops on Kilbarrack Road

Although this area is lined for parallel car parking between the cycle lane and the pavement, cars currently usually park diagonally, partly on the cycle lane and reverse out across the cycle lane. The proposal effectively intends to maintain the current road markings, which can be expected to mean that the current dangerous use of the road will continue. The scheme should provide for car parking outside the cycle lane.


Thanks for considering the above.

Commissioner for Environmental Information has upheld my appeal on refusal of access to information on Station Road junctions

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The Commissioner for Environmental Information has ruled on my appeal against Fingal County Council’s refusal to release planning compliance documentation in relation to condition 2 of planning permission SHD/012/19. The condition required the redesign of the junctions at either end of Station Road before development started, which didn’t happen. One has since been redesigned. The other still hasn’t. More background here.

The Commissioner found

36. Articles 7(4) and 11(4) of the AIE Regulations require public authorities to provide reasons for refusal at both original and internal review decision stages, consistent with Article 4(5) of the AIE Directive. It is clear that the Council did not provide adequate reasons for refusal of the appellant’s request.

37. I am satisfied that the Council adopted a blanket approach to its refusal of the records at issue under article 8(a)(i) of the AIE Regulations and to its refusal of the records at issue under articles 8(a)(iv) and 9(2)(d) of the AIE Regulations, without having regard to the nature or content of the records.

The Commissioner has now directed the Council to undertake a fresh decision-making process.