Local parents in our DLR group have welcomed the proposal to increase permeability and connectivity throughout Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown in order to create a safer, more inviting environment for children to walk, scoot or cycle to school. Find out more about the proposals here.

What can you do?

[2 minutes] If you live in or near Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, we strongly encourage you to make a short submission supporting the proposals. The deadline is Friday 6th November 2020, but the council may accept submissions after this date. Be brief, and let the council know how safer cycling infrastructure would benefit you. The council are also encouraging children of all ages to make submissions so if you are a parent, please encourage each of your children to make a short submission. There is some opposition to plans to prioritise walking and cycling over driving, so the proposals will not go ahead as planned unless the council hear from enough supportive people such as you.

In order to quickly provide safe the infrastructure to fully enable more children to get to school by active travel, some reallocation of space is necessary. Small sacrifices in driving journey times can yield many gains for children who have previously been prevented from walking and cycling to school due to hostile motor traffic conditions. In time, the shift to walking and cycling will reduce traffic congestion levels and there will be benefits for all.

We believe this project has the potential to be a tipping point for walking and cycling in the county and is a unique opportunity to create a coherent and useful network of routes suitable for all ages and abilities.

Please see our full submission below for details. While we are overall positive, we have made some suggestions which we feel would make a critical difference to the overall safety, coherence and comfort of the routes being proposed. We would very much welcome further engagement with the council, elected representatives, schools, members of the public and interested groups on any of the points raised or any other aspects to the proposals.

Don’t delay, make your submission now - it takes just 2 minutes.