Full pedestrianisation of Buncrana Main Street proposed in regeneration strategy

A proposal to fully pedestrianise Buncrana's Main Street and close St Mary's Road to all but local traffic is among the most significant proposals in a new strategy to regenerate the town published by Donegal County Council this week.

The Buncrana Regeneration Strategy and Action Plan brings together a range of existing projects and longer-term aspirations aimed at revitalising the town centre, improving connections to the shorefront and addressing some of the challenges holding back Buncrana's development.

A public consultation on the strategy is now under way and runs throughout November.

Among the projects incorporated into the plan are the council’s Re-Powering Buncrana initiative, which aims to reconnect the town centre with the shorefront via Church Street, and the redevelopment of the former Garda barracks as an enterprise centre.

More aspirational proposals include the development of an arts and cultural hub in the former Clubman Factory near Lower Main Street, a wetland park on the former Fruit of the Loom factory site at the entrance to the town, regeneration of the area surrounding the long-shuttered Swilly Hotel, and the redevelopment of the derelict Swan Mill at Millbrae.

However, it is the proposed transformation of Main Street into a pedestrian-only area that could have the most far-reaching implications for the town.

The proposal to pedestrianise Main Street forms part of a wider ambition to rebalance Buncrana's town centre away from vehicles and towards pedestrians, creating a more attractive environment for shoppers, residents and visitors.

Under the proposals, Main Street would eventually be fully pedestrianised, while St Mary’s Road would be closed to all but local traffic.

The strategy acknowledges that the existing one-way traffic loop incorporating Main Street and St Mary’s Road is a source of traffic congestion and one of Buncrana’s most significant urban challenges.

As well as serving local businesses and residents, the route is the principal artery for traffic travelling north through the town towards Carndonagh and Clonmany, and southwards towards Derry and Letterkenny.

The volume of traffic passing through the town centre contributes to congestion and creates an environment in which pedestrians and cyclists compete for space with vehicles. While the strategy identifies this as a problem, it does not set out where the thousands of vehicles using the route each day would be diverted if the proposed restrictions were introduced.

The pedestrianisation of Main Street is envisaged as a phased process, initially involving the removal of parking bays on either side of the street and a narrowing of the carriageway before its eventual full pedestrianisation.

But the strategy is silent on the question of alternative routes for through-traffic.

Buncrana's existing Inner Relief Road offers nothing in the way of an immediate solution.

The route, which is not addressed in the regeneration strategy, is deficient. A lengthy section through Marian Park is single carriageway, while the Mill Bridge was recently, and controversially, reduced from a free-flowing two-carriageway route to a single carriageway.

The Inner Relief Road also meets the Cockhill Road at a poorly configured T-junction beside the site acquired for the proposed new three-school campus.

An Outer Relief Road corridor, running east of the town from Lisfannon to Cockhill, has featured in council development plans for more than two decades. However, the proposal has not progressed beyond the protection of a route on planning maps.

Protecting a transport corridor from development is one thing - and that ball was certainly dropped when it came to the town’s Inner Relief Road - but securing the land for an adequate outer relief road, completing the design work and obtaining the funding required to build it, is something else altogether.

The shortcomings of Buncrana’s Inner Relief Road illustrate the consequences of failing to get transport infrastructure right in the first place.

Wider vision for the town

Despite the questions surrounding traffic management, the regeneration strategy sets out a broad range of proposals addressing issues that have affected Buncrana’s growth and development.

These include pressure on housing availability, exacerbated by defective blocks, vacant and underused buildings and sites, and the need to protect and make better use of the town’s natural, built and industrial heritage.

The plan’s authors say the strategy seeks to build on Buncrana's existing strengths while addressing the challenges that will shape its future.

“Taken together, the Strategy seeks to build on what already makes Buncrana distinctive while addressing the challenges that will shape its future,” they write. “ Through reuse of existing assets, investment in enterprise and community facilities, improved walking and cycling, stronger connections to the waterfront, better public spaces and greater integration of nature, Buncrana can develop as a greener, better connected, inclusive and resilient town while retaining the character and community that make it unique.”

The strategy was prepared on behalf of Donegal County Council and the Buncrana Town Team by ACT (Accelerating Change Together), a social enterprise comprising architects, urbanists and policy specialists which focuses on accelerating the ‘Green Transition’ and supporting sustainable development.

Details of a three week non-statutory public consultation on the Buncrana Regeneration Strategy and Action Plan is available through the Council’s consultation website at consult.donegal.ie and will remain open until Wednesday, November 25.

Comments and submissions can be emailed to [email protected], or by calling 07491 53900.