Special meeting to discuss Portmarnock traffic plan

A SPECIAL meeting of the Malahide/ Howth Area Committee is to be held to consider a new road layout for the Portmarnock and Baldoyle area.

The meeting has been called following the failure to notify most of the committee members of a separate meeting to consider the new road designs held recently with council officials.

Only the committee chairperson, Cllr David Healy (GP) was notified in time and despite Cllr Healy drawing the ire of some of his fellow councillors for the mix-up, the council’s Transportation Department took full responsibility for failing to notify the councillors on the committee in good time for the meeting.

The meeting went ahead with Cllr Healy in attendance as well as officials from several department of Fingal County Council, and some preliminary work on the new road designs and layout were presented.

Among the issues discussed were the design of roads in development with particular regard to cyclists and pedestrians.

The Moyne Road upgrade, the proposed coastal footpath and cycleway were also discussed as well as a possible new pedestrian and cyclist’s route east of the railway line.

Parking controls for the new development area in South Portmarnock and Baldoyle and a proposed 30km speed limit for the area were two further issues that arose from the meeting.

Cllr Healy briefed his fellow councillors on the Malahide/Howth Area Committee on the issues that arose at the meeting which were discussed when the committee met last week.

At the committee meeting, Senior Executive Officer at the council’s Transportation Department, Peter Caulfield told the councillors that the upgrade of the Moyne Road was a critical part of the plan and a ‘major undertaking’.

A costly new railway bridge is now likely to be included in the upgrade of the road which will require a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The Transportation Department is in the final stages of negotiations with a consultancy firm which will be engaged to do preliminary designs for the project.

Mr Caulfield estimated that it would take about six to eight months to bring the project to public display stage.

Cllr Healy and Cllr Joan Maher (FG) both expressed concern that the proposed coastal path in the area was slipping off the agenda in favour of the Moyne Road upgrade.

Provision

Both councillors also emphasised that there were bio-diversity issues to consider in the provision of a coastal path and that the carriageway may have to be moved further inland to allow it.

Mr Caulfield told the councillors that the Transportation Department did see the Moyne Road as ‘critical’ but that the two projects were not mutually exclusive.

He said that his department had not yet conducted a study into the coastal walkway proposal. He said he was fully supportive of the project but said it needed to be linked to the upgrade of the Moyne Road.

The councillors agreed to schedule a special meeting of the committee for January to consider the plan further along with officials from all the relevant departments in Fingal County Council.

By John Manning