‘Is this legal?’ - Frustrations in Waterford over ‘farce’ of Active Travel changes

There are frustrations in Waterford over the “farce” Active Travel schemes are making of public engagement, a council meeting has heard.

The issue was raised by Fianna Fáil councillor Eamon Quinlan at the December plenary meeting of Waterford City and County Council.

Cllr Quinlan spoke on changes made to the Tramore Ring Road Active Travel Scheme, which is currently under construction.

He stated: “We were making suggestions about how Active Travel could change things and we were being told it wasn’t possible but it can, because I can see on the map.”

Cllr Quinlan described how councillors had voted for a plan that included two footpaths in a certain area, but that this was reduced to one footpath without the consent of councillors.

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He continued: “I queried where this had come from and was advised that it’s common practice that what the public see, what the public exhibitions on and what we see as councillors is not the actual plan that tends to come into effect.

“It’s a new detailed plan that the engineers map afterwards that we [or the public] then don’t get to see.”

“How many times have we as councillors have voted through infrastructure plans and then got calls from residents that it isn’t actually what’s happening.

“We don’t know what’s going on. We’re effectively turned into a complaints department in my experience.”

Cllr Quinlan then brought forward four questions to the council executive in relation to the issue.

He appealed to the Mayor of Waterford City and County Council, Cllr Seamus Ryan, to make sure they answered all four.

He stated: “The first is, is the council aware that this practice has been going on? Secondly, is this common practice? Is it happening across the council or just with Active Travel?

“Thirdly, is this legal? Fourthly, if it is legal, I would still implore the executive to commit to councillors to re-advertise the detailed plan to the public that gives a vote on the actual plan that’s going in across our city, towns and countryside, because it’s making a farce of public interaction.”

In response to Cllr Quinlan, Director of Services Gabriel Hynes said that the Active Travel team were “very clear” about changes to schemes.

Mr Hynes said: “All changes or all schemes we have - we bring them to you at workshops. If there’s any significant changes in those schemes as a result of a safety [audit], we will certainly bring those back to you.

“I just want to give our assurance that there may be small changes on the scheme when it goes to construction [...]. If they are significant, you can be sure that you will be informed.”

He went on to outline the overall aim of Active Travel schemes, which is to ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

“In general, we are narrowing carriageways, we are tightening junctions and all that is being done to protect the vulnerable road user - the pedestrian and the cyclist.

“We need to slow vehicles down and by slowing vehicles down, in the event of an accident, the extent of the injury will be significantly reduced.

“I had a meeting this morning with the RSA and the Gardaí and just in relation to Waterford, you can see that our accidents in relation to pedestrians and cyclists have increased over the past four years.”

Mr Hynes admitted that Active Travel schemes are an inconvenience to motorists but pleaded with councillors to continue to support their implementation.

He continued: “While it will be an inconvenience to motorists in that you are narrowing carriageways and narrowing junctions, we’re doing it with road safety in mind and that’s the overall aim.

“We just want to assure you that we’re going to work with you on all our schemes in partnership.

“We need your support because without your support, we won’t have the public support.”

Mr Hynes concluded by once again reassuring councillors that they will be informed of any changes made to Active Travel schemes.