Residents oppose plan to get pupils to walk or cycle to school
People living in a residential area in Naas are complaining about a proposal to encourage young children to walk to school.
The Safe Route to School Programme is designed to encourage pupils and students to walk and cycle to primary and secondary schools.
The programme was launched in March 2021 and is open to all schools in Ireland to apply for active travel funding and delivery. It’s an initiative of the Department of Transport and supported by the Department of Education.
The programme proposed for Scoil an Linbh Iosa national school in Ballycane in Naas, which is adjacent to the houses in Lacken View.
Cllr Anne Breen told a Naas Municipal District meeting that there are concerns among some residents there.
Kildare County Council engineer Donal Hodgins said that there is some concern and comment about road safety generally.
He said everyone should expect that initiatives will be undertaken with the aim of improving road safety.
And he refuted a claim by Cllr Evie Sammon that KCC had “done the minimum” to ensure that there was adequate information made available about how the community could make suggestions about the proposal.
He said the public consultation part of the process was advertised in a number of ways and people are entitled to make their views known.
Construction work will take place over six weeks and includes the reconstruction and widening of the path outside the school “to promote safe active travel”, four uncontrolled pedestrian crossings, one controlled crossing along Lacken View at the school entrance and pencil bollards.
Ramps will be built on either side of the school and kerbs will be tightened at adjoining T junctions to reduce traffic speed. Bollards, road markings and signs will be provided outside the school “to enhance greater safety for vulnerable road users.”
A resident said that widening paths and making the roads narrow will have a negative impact on traffic flow and there was criticism of the loss of parking spaces - though a widening of the paths and resurfacing work would be acceptable..
The resident predicted that “residents will be left fighting for parking spaces.” It was claimed that road markings there have not been updated since 1979.
There is concern too about how fire tenders or ambulances will negotiate the new road layout.