Bus stop between Newbridge and Naas is ‘a mud bath’, Kildare County Council is told

A bus stop located between Newbridge and Naas is currently akin to "a mud bath", according to one local councillor. 

The comments were made by Fine Gael Cllr Peggy O'Dwyer at the latest Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District meeting, which took place on Wednesday, February 18 last.

Specifically, she submitted a motion requesting Kildare County Council (KCC) to "consider some improvements at the bus stop on the grass surface near Tougher's [Restaurant] on health and safety grounds while the permanent new infrastructure is awaited".

Her motion was seconded by her party colleague, Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer.

Speaking further on her motion, Cllr Peggy O'Dwyer explained that one bus stop in the region has a shelter, while the other is on a grass verge.

"People are essentially standing in a mud bath there at the moment," she added. "It seems like a job that was half done."

Cllr Peggy O'Dwyer also urged KCC to implement interim safety measures at this stop.

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CROSS-PARTY SUPPORT

Another councillor who expressed support for her motion was Social Democrats Cllr Chris Pender, who said that he had raised the matter previously with KCC.

Echoing Cllr Peggy O'Dwyer's sentiments, Cllr Pender also told KCC that "a hard standing" is needed at the stop.

In response to the motion, KCC said via the report it presented at the meeting: "A design for a new signalised pedestrian crossing and improvement in the bus stop infrastructure at this location has been prepared, and a public consultation process will be commenced in the next four-to-six weeks.

"Undertaking any works at this location in advance of the completion of the consultation process may infer a bias in the process and would result in duplicate expenditure.

KCC further told Cllr Peggy O'Dwyer that a funding allocation for these works has not been agreed at present.

'ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL'

A representative of KCC who was also present at the meeting also asked the councillors: "It would seem that there is a preference here for a single bus stop, to collect everyone? A one-size-fits-all [solution]?"

The councillors in attendance overwhelmingly agreed with this view.

This prompted the representative to reply: "Leave this one with me and I can talk to the other [KCC] engineers about this."

Fine Gael Cllr Peggy O'Dwyer. File photograph

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Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.