Group opposing cycle lanes in Newbridge gets OK to address councillors at next Kildare-Newbridge municipal meeting

Councillors have agreed to allow a local group opposed to controversial temporary cycle lanes in Newbridge to address next month’s Municipal District meeting.
A delegation from the Newbridge Reverse the Changes Group, which has around 800 members on Facebook, has been invited into the chamber in Aras Chill Dara.
The May 18 meeting also heard several councillors call on the council to communicate better around the issue of sustainable transport in Newbridge.
Councillors Tracey O’Dwyer, Chris Pender, Peggy O’Dwyer, Fiona McLoughlin Healy, Noel Heavey and Rob Power also asked for the local authority to issue a map showing all proposed cycleways in Newbridge and the connectivity between them.
The politicians also requested the release of all public and councillor feedback received to date, actions taken on foot of this feedback and the next steps for this project.
At a previous Municipal District meeting in February, some councillors claimed they received online abuse on social media due to the controversial cycle lanes in Newbridge.

Feedback

Senior executive engineer and the council’s head of sustainable transport and traffic management, Donal Hodgins, told the meeting at the time that all feedback received would help to inform essential changes to the temporary system as well as the design and operation of a permanent cycle lane infrastructure.
At the May 18 meeting Mr Hodgins reiterated to councillors that a full public consultation process preceeded the introduction of the temporary cycle lanes.
He added that up to 50 messages from the public had been responded to via the council’s content management system and that constructive feedback had already led to some changes to the infrastructure.
Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy claimed that ‘the council was hiding behind councillors’ but this was completely rejected by Mr Hodgins.
Cllr Noel Heavey called for a Town Hall Meeting so that all groups on both sides of the debate could discuss the issues involved.
He added: “A significant group of people don’t understand what is happening with the cycle lanes.

General public
“It makes sense to me but it’s not getting out to a section of the general public.”
He added: “We have lost the hearts and minds of a section of the public.”
But Mr Hodgins told councillors that the measures were the result of implementing national policies and should be seen in the context of the promotion of active transport options and an unprecedented climate emergency.
Director of Services Joe Boland said that any process of change would be difficult for members of the public and that there were challenges and difficulties involved.
He added that the more consensus the better was needed for any project to succeed.