30,000 vehicles go through Naas every day - despite the by-pass and ring roads
'We don't want towns that are choked with traffic'
There are now 30,000 vehicles passing through Naas per day - a higher figure that is higher than ever despite the motorway and by pass routes.
Cllr Bill Clear said there is “absolute chaos” outside some town supermarkets with up to five lanes of traffic passing Dunnes Stores in Newbridge.
Parking spaces in towns across County Kildare are out of line with local populations.
A Kildare County Council meeting was told that there are 593 parking spaces in Naas but just 134 in Leixlip.
Kildare town (147) has more than Leixlip but Athy has 615 and Sallins has 119.
There are 160 in Maynooth, 171 in Celbridge, 642 in Newbridge, 233 in Kilcock, 74 in Clane, 82 in Castledermot.
The figures were provided by Cllr Suzanne Doyle and refer to spaces operated by Kildare County Council only.
Cllr Doyle said these show that there is no pattern to the availability of town centre car parking because Leixlip has a population of about 18,000 for example and Kildare town’s is 10,500 while Clane has a population of 8150 while Castledermot’s is 870.
She said that a move is underway to provide more public realm space in Kildare town and car park spaces will be taken away.
She wanted the number of public and private car park spaces to be assessed to provide a ratio of car parking, bearing in mind the local population and the commercial needs of the town but Kildare County Council replied it does not have the resources to do this.
Cllr Doyle countered that there are other easy to secure the data.
She said it was unfair to make car parks spaces and traffic management plans a condition of granting planning permission for shopping centres in out of town locations - when the same principle is not applied to town centres “if we seriously want them to function as primary retail centres.”
She added: “This approach is totally contrary to the objective of promoting our town centres as retail centres, it ignores the reality of commerce and the important part competition plays. We are effectively putting our town centres at a competitive disadvantage.” She said strong vibrant town centres are those that provide both good public transport and adequate car parking that can compete with out of town retail settings.
The councillor said that she does not disapprove of moving cars out, but this needs to be planned and managed.
She said it makes little sense to take car park spaces out of Kildare town because of its importance as a tourism destination
But there were differing views.
Independent councillor Pádraig McEvoy said when all of the spaces are taken into account there are over 1,000 spaces in Clane - excluding the Westgrove Hotel’s underground parking spaces.
He said other issues need to be examined in tandem with car parking such as cycled lanes or how close people are living to a town.
“We can’t expect to create car parks and reduce traffic,” he said.
Cllr Vanessa Liston said figures showed that retailers saw business improve by 17% in areas that are pedestrianised.
“We’re trying to undo the consequences of designing town centres around cars,” sadi Cllr Liston.
But FF’s Bernard Caldwell said removing car park spades is crazy and he said very few councillors cycled to the meeting.
Another Naas councillor Seamie Moore said the creation of cycle lanes and public realm space at Kilcullen Road in Naas is to be welcomed. He noted it cost €3m and some 35 car parks spaces were lost.
He also said that privately owned car parks may end up as the sites for the development of hotels or shops in the future.
Cllr Moore also called for park and ride facilities to be developed.
KCC official Celina Barett said the emphasis must be on giving town centres back to people and encouraging them to walk. “Town that are choked with traffic is not what we want,” added Ms Barrett.