SKERRIES COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION AND THE TRAFFIC PLAN

I welcome the opportunity to attend this meeting and to give the Skerries Community Association perspective on the Skerries Traffic Management Plan.

Firstly, I would like to say that Skerries Community Association has a good working relationship with Fingal Council on a number of development issues. We have recently dealt with the needs of the elderly in the town, St. Michael’s House, green school projects, the swimming pool, and the traffic plan. We also fully support the work of the Tidy Towns Committee, who also work well with Fingal Council on a range of issues relating to the physical appearance of Skerries. We are a very active community association. We led the campaign to save our harbour, we have restarted an annual music and arts festival and we organised a collection for Tsunami relief. We are currently organising a welcome pack for new entrants to the town, and are keen to push for Skerries to be a Fair Trade town. This evening, in association with a sailing regatta in Skerries, we are hosting a display for all volunteer groups in the town. Our membership is open, without charge, to all residents of Skerries who are over 18, and the members elect our Directors at our annual AGM.

We see the Traffic Management Plan as an integral part of how we, as a voluntary community body, can work with Fingal Council to improve our town. We acknowledge that the Council is willing to spend money to improve our town, and we do not want to put that money in jeopardy. We share the vision of what a Traffic Management Plan is about, and we believe that Skerries urgently needs the implementation of a Traffic Management Plan. This is due to the increase in traffic in the town. We support the view that facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users should be improved, and that the use of the private car in the town needs to be managed. We see the Traffic Management Plan as giving priority to short term parking and residents over long term parking, and to those who really need to use their cars over those who do not. We expect that when the Traffic Management Plan is implemented there will be some changes in people’s habits, but that this is more likely to be positive rather than negative for trading in the town. In short, we believe that this plan will be to the benefit of traders, town centre residents, and the general population of Skerries.

Our main involvement in this plan was to host a public meeting in September 2003. We have not taken a position on any specific aspect of the plan. However, we do strongly believe that it is needed, and that once the decision had been taken by the Elected Councillors, then the plan as agreed should be implemented. We understand that there is a commitment to a review after a period of months. We believe that this is the best way to review the success or failure of the Traffic Management Plan.

I would like to comment on some of the issues that have been raised recently in criticism of the plan. It seems that the concerns that people have fall into three categories.:

1. Those who are opposed because of a reduction in number of parking spaces.
2. Those who have individual issues related to where they live or where they trade.
3. Those who are making judgements based on work in progress.

Parking spaces – most Skerries residents would have expected a Traffic Management Plan to deliver a one way system around the town. Instinctively, it seemed the obvious solution. The Council, in its deliberations, had to take account both of these views, and of the advice of experts on traffic management. As we are not traffic experts, we have no choice but to accept that the professional advice given was sound, and that the decision to leave the streets two way was taken after a lot of thought. Parking in Skerries at the moment is chaotic. There is indiscriminate parking on footpaths, at corners, at bus stops, and parking intruding into streets where it is blocking the flow of traffic. Much of the space that will be lost in the plan is parking that should not be happening anyway, as it is illegal and dangerous. Even if the streets were one way, the town could not cope with the demand without some management. As a separate exercise, serious thought needs to be given to the scope for off street parking in or close to Skerries town centre.

Individual issues – Fingal Council should have been more active in discussing issues with people in advance of work being done. I am aware that many issues being raised are being dealt with to the satisfaction of all. But some of the momentum against the plan might have been forestalled if there had been better communication. For example, residents of Quay St. understood that they would be told in advance of the street becoming one way, but this did not happen. The Council must continue to work with people to satisfy as many of the individual problems as possible, but this should not interfere with the completion of the project.

Work in progress – a building site is never very attractive. Two years ago, when Luas was being built, it had a terrible press. But now that it is finished to a very high standard and working well, everybody sees it in a much more positive light. I believe that the same will be true of the Traffic Management Plan. Fingal Council has a good record in finishing projects to a high standard, and I have no doubt that this will also be true of this plan. I will judge the work when it is finished, not when it is in progress. There are three issues that people are talking about in relation to this. They mainly relate to the built-outs. There is the character of the town, the ugliness of the build-outs, and the quality of the work.

It would be nice to think that the character of Skerries could be preserved at it was. To some extent its character changed when the first pedestrian lights went up in Strand St. But we have to plan our town for the population and car ownership that we now have, not as it was in the good old days. We support build-outs as an integral part of modern traffic management. They make it easier and safer for pedestrians to cross roads.

The build-outs look awful. I am aware that Tidy Towns have written to the Council with specific requests. I have full confidence in the judgement of the Tidy Towns Committee in relation to aesthetic issues, and I am confident that the Council will finish these build-outs to a standard satisfactory to Tidy Towns.

The quality of the work does not seem to be of high standard, and this view has been confirmed to me by a knowledgeable civil engineer. I expect that the contractor will be obliged to finish all aspects of the work to a high standard, without any additional cost to the taxpayers of Fingal.

The communication from Fingal Council in relation to this work in progress has been very deficient, and I have spoken with Peter Caulfield about this some weeks ago. With better communication, much of the opposition may have been forestalled. People are confused, they see something that does not look right, or does not seem to make sense, and they draw the conclusion that the Council does not know what it is at. This, of course, is not the case.

Stopping the work would achieve nothing. It would leave the town in a building site situation for a longer time. It would delay the town improvements that are planned. Overall, it would be detrimental to the town and to our relations with the Council, in a way that could have long term implications.

So what should be done now?
Firstly, dramatically improve the communication so that residents know what is being done, and why. Secondly, deal with local issues being raised as best as can. But most importantly, complete the project as planned as quickly as possible. Let the town judge the project when complete, and I have no doubt that the vast majority of residents will be much more positive towards it. This will then turn into a more positive view of Fingal Council, and of the decision taken by the Elected Members nearly two years ago.

Bob Laird
Chairman
Skerries Community Association