ANGER AT PROPOSED ONE-WAY SYSTEM FOR TEMPLESHANNON
COUNCILLORS UNDER FIRE AT HEATED PUBLIC MEETING WHERE ALTERNATIVE PLAN FOR REGENERATION PROJECT WAS PUT FORWARD
THE Enniscorthy Flood Relief and Templeshannon Regeneration plans may have hit a major snag over the establishment of a one-way system on the east side of town.
Tempers were running high at a special meeting at Treacy’s Hotel which saw County Council Chairman Keith Doyle and Cllr Paddy Kavanagh come under fire from irate residents and business owners who voiced their objections to the proposed traffic plan, which would see no left turn into Templeshannon from the Old Bridge, with traffic instead having to travel along the quay, up Springvalley and back down the Shannon.
Hotelier Anton Treacy said that he had invested a considerable sum of money over the last two and a half years and had even threatened a judicial review over plans to make the road outside his hotel one-way.
‘My business would be destroyed by the current plan,’ he said. ‘If this plan goes ahead without some kind of left-hand turn into Templeshannon, there’ll be a loss of at least 40 jobs in the hotel, it’s as simple as that. The doctors, the barbers and all the other businesses at this side of town are in the same boat.’
Mr Treacy had employed the services of town planner Ian Doyle to examine the feasibility of a left-hand turn off the old bridge into Templeshannon under the new system and he presented a plan to the meeting that showed it was possible.
Under these plans, the old buildings at the end of the bridge would be demolished, making way for a slip-road into the Waterfront car park.
However, currently, the road into the car-park would be a dead end. On this, Cllr Keith Doyle said that he and his fellow members would be calling on the planners to find a way of linking this slip road back in with the main Templeshannon thoroughfare.
Coming under increasing pressure from a hostile audience, Cllr Doyle said he wasn’t above pulling the plug on the whole Templeshannon Regeneration if it wasn’t what people wanted. It was explained that the Part 8 planning application for the project had already gone to public display and was due back before the councillors next week for adoption.
Cllr Doyle said that he and his colleagues had heard a lot of the issues people have with the current plan and they would only approve the it subject to a left hand turn into Templeshannon being provided.
He said that they could vote down the Part 8 application altogether and start again, but both he and Cllr Kavanagh stressed that this would cause significant delays to the Flood Relief Programme and both felt it ran the risk of the €45million allocated to the project being used elsewhere.
While nobody wanted this, the audience were perplexed as to why the Templeshannon Regeneration and Flood Relief are so intrinsically linked.
Further anger arose when planner Ian Doyle informed those present that even if the coun- cillors voted down the Part 8 application, the council could still make Templeshannon one-way under Section 34 of the Road Traffic act without any permission.
Therefore, he said, Templeshannon would be made oneway regardless and the reason he had been employed by Mr Treacy was to find the best alternative.
Angry residents relayed their concerns to the councillors present on the night. One mother urged them to hop in their car and try drop kids off at the school some morning following the proposed system and see how hard it will be. Another issue raised was how residents of the Shannon stand to lose their parking spaces, with no alternative spaces being provided.
As well as this, a huge cause for concern is the increase in traffic that would be coming down the Shannon with four schools, a church and a supermarket all along the route, and plans for a further 400 houses at that side of town at Clonhaston.
Development Officer at Enniscorthy & District Chamber
MY BUSINESS WOULD BE DESTROYED BY THE CURRENT PLAN... THERE WILL BE A LOSS OF AT LEAST 40 JOBS – ANTON TREACY
Mr Jimmy Gahan said: ‘Implementing this policy would spell the death knell for every business from Mr Price down to the bridge.
‘We at Enniscorthy & District Chamber are strongly in favour of the left-hand turn into the car park,’ added Jimmy.
‘We’ve already relayed a lot of fears and concerns to the planners,’ said Cllr Keith Doyle, having listened to a lot of the issues outlined by the crowd. ‘I’m not here to defend the plan. I’m here to try and give you information. We get what you’re saying. We don’t want to end up having to defend a plan that’s a failure. If it doesn’t work, we’ve no interest in it.’
While some accused him of being ‘dramatic’, Cllr Paddy Kavanagh expressed fears that money appropriated for the Enniscorthy projects would be assigned elsewhere if they were forced back to the drawing board.
‘We have three things coming at us at the one time – the Flood Relief, the bypass and the Templeshannon Regeneration,’ he said. ‘We were pretty much given an ultimatum – take it on or plenty of other towns would love to take the €45million. All of the councillors fully agree with the left-hand turn into the car park. The next step, where the road goes from there, is being looked at.’
‘Nothing’s off the table here,’ Cllr Kavanagh continued. ‘You can see the plan is a non-runner as it is. All it takes is for there to be a funeral and school traffic on the one day on this one way system and it’d be chaos. They can’t make it one way until the new bridge is built. I think town will be tested when the bypass is complete and open next year and things will become clearer then.’
While Mr Gahan called for a vote to amend the current plans to include a left-hand turn onto Templeshannon, many wanted to vote to scrap the plans for Templeshannon altogether and start again. One resident David Hasslacher was firm in his assertion: ‘If we residents don’t have a say and this is somewhat of a fait accompli, then that’s not democracy.’
The councillors said a number of options would be explored, one of them being to allow the left turn off the Old Bridge and then having Templeshannon two way from the Waterfront car-park, which would not seem to cure any of ills identified in the initial plan.
The voice of reason throughout much of the meeting, planner Ian Doyle said: ‘I would suggest that you don’t attempt to fight the flood defence scheme over a road being one way. If it means so much to the people of the area, you can wait until the flood relief comes and then object and apply to make changes to the system in the next town development plan.’
Mr Doyle pointed out that, despite the frosty reception they received, the councillors had stated that they were in favour of the left-hand turn and would be pushing the planners to come up with a workable solution from there. This he described as a small victory.
Despite having been told that the road would be made one-way regardless, a lot of the residents at the meeting refused to accept this and wanted to vote to oppose the one-way system at all costs.
‘That decision is already made,’ an exasperated Cllr Doyle said. ‘We need to find alternatives. It’s instrumental in the flood relief. Let’s try and find a solution.’
Trying to calm matters somewhat, Anton Treacy stated that, while he wants nothing more than to maintain two-way traffic outside of his hotel, despite the investment of considerable time and resources, his advice is that this just won’t happen.
‘Unfortunately, we’re backed into a corner here,’ he said. ‘We had to come up with a solution. I’ve talked to my legal team and invested money in this and the only way around this is to request a judicial review and fight it in the High Court. Then the alternative would be to scrap the flood relief altogether. I’d be a leper in town.
‘The way I see it, we have two options,’ he continued. ‘Either we do nothing and then protest and block the streets when work starts, or we can vote for something to help improve the inevitable.’
With the crowd unable to agree on a course of action to take, it was decided to allow people time to think things over and to return for another meeting after the councillors had voted on the Part 8 application at next Monday’s council meeting.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Treacy said: ‘I felt it was a very positive turnout, despite a difficult, wet night. I think it showed some of the trepidation about the one-way system, but I think there was unanimous agreement that the left-hand turn would certainly improve access to Templeshannon and would be a positive addition. The matter will go before the council next week and we’re hoping that they will vote to make an amendment to the plan to allow for the lefthand turn.’