Dublin People - Plan to reopen George’s Street faces challenge

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Plan to reopen George’s Street faces challenge

Friday, 04 April 2008

A plan to reopen part of Dun Laoghaire’s main thoroughfare to traffic as part of a long mooted traffic management plan has run into opposition.
Consultancy firm ILTP prepared a traffic management plan for Dún Laoghaire and presented the council with three options, including one which suggested the reopening of the currently pedestrianised George’s Street Lower to one-way traffic.
The traffic plan was drawn up in an attempt to address a number of issues in the town centre including pedestrian and public transport priority measures and to examine the impact the changes would have on the retail trade in Dún Laoghaire.
The perception that the town is difficult to access by car, ‘rat running’ through residential estates, signage, access to car parks and junction improvements are also central considerations to the plan.
After extensive public consultation with local groups, the council has agreed that the second option, which recommends the re-opening of the town’s main thoroughfare to traffic, would be the best option to implement.

However, although two of the main groups involved in negotiations with the council support ‘Option 2’, a Green Party councillor has challenged their views by claiming that this would not improve the situation for either business people or residents in the town.
The Dún Laoghaire Business Association reached several compromises with the local authority on the plan. Their view is that George’s Street should be reopened to private cars because they maintain the town is otherwise difficult to access and that business has suffered as a result.
Supports
Likewise, the Dún Laoghaire Community Association also supports the proposal because they say the pedestrianisation of the street has resulted in motorists “rat running” through the residential streets of Library Road, Patrick Street and Cross Avenue.
However, Cllr Gene Feighery (GP) told Southside People that she has conducted her own survey among business people in Dún Laoghaire and that its findings did not support the concerns expressed by the business association.
“My survey found that the traders in Dún Laoghaire were not united in their call for traffic to be reintroduced to George’s Street,” she claimed.
“They said the problems that are confronting businesses in Dún Laoghaire aren’t associated with traffic and it is footfall that gets people into shops. There are a number of issues in relation to businesses in the town besides traffic.”
Cllr Feighery also disagreed with the belief that the reopening of the street to traffic would result in less cars on residential streets.
“The community association is saying that they want option two,” Cllr Feighery added. “I am saying that we are the only town in Europe that would be introducing traffic into a pedestrianised area. I don’t accept their contention that they have already been subjected to rat running.
“I would counter that by saying that if they open up George’s Street it will become a rat running haven for people because Tivoli Road is so congested. Marine Road is also congested and they will then have the option of going down through the residential roads and coming out onto George’s Street.
In response to Cllr Feighery’s comments, Michael Merrigan of the Dún Laoghaire Community Association said that traffic studies conducted by the county council had proven that residential streets were being used as ‘rat runs’.
He said the community association and other residents in the town had campaigned for seven years to reverse the council’s original decision to pedestrianise the street.
“The local community has done surveys and those surveys have been upheld by the county council as being correct,” said Mr Merrigan.
“The traffic count has proved beyond any doubt that there is a rat run going from east to west primarily in the morning and west to east in the evening, that is clearly avoiding the closure of Lower George’s Street.
“In effect if she [Cllr Feighery] doesn’t accept the rat runs here, I will challenge her to come to a public meeting and let her stand up in front of the community and say there are no rat runs.”
Agreed
In addition, Breasal O‘Caollaí of the Dun Laoghaire Business Association said his organisation was happy to go along with the residents' ‘Traffic Management Plan’ as agreed by the council.
“Basically we want a top class system of signs for motorists and pedestrians,” he said.
Ward councillors from Dún Laoghaire will consider the recommendations for the traffic management plan at the next area committee meeting later this month.

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