A proposal to bring in charges at coastal car parks prompts a flood of objections from Fingal residents

Across from the Balbriggan Dart station, there’s the Cabana Café and Station Studios, a recording and production space, where once there was a famous hosiery manufacturer, Smyth & Co.

On the other side, there’s a path under the bridge leading straight down to the sandy beach and the sea.

Thursday afternoon, clouds shifted over Balbriggan Beach – from drizzle to blue skies. 

About a quarter to three, Stephen Coyne, who lives in Portrane, was walking his black-and-white collie Sammy along the shore. 

He said he drives with Sammy to the beach – “unfortunately”. 

The Dart runs north-south along the coast, but he lives a few miles inland, and east-west transport connections aren’t very good, Coyne says.

He said if there were better public transportation options for him, “that would be great”, although he also comes to walk his dog, who isn’t allowed on the bus. 

Happily for him, Fingal County Council’s vast Mill Street car park is free of charge. But the council is looking to change that. 

Among the proposals in the draft new parking control bye-laws it recently put out for public consultation, was adding charges at beach car parks. In response? A flood of submissions objecting to this idea.

Coyne, too, says he’s against it. “I hate paying road tax on the car already, and then I got to pay tolls on my way, and then I got to pay now for parking on the coast,” Coyne says. 

“So I think it's completely wrong. It's just another charge,” he says. 

The proposal is working its way through the council’s committee system, with a plan to get it to the full council in January for a final vote.

The meeting

This summer, the council ran a public consultation asking people what they thought of the proposed changes to the parking bye-laws. It got 553 submissions in response.

A presentation at a meeting on 9 October of the council’s Balbriggan/Rush-Lusk/ Swords Area Committee outlined the results. 

Although the changes included increases in charges for on-street parking, and residential parking permits, those weren’t among the main objections.

Of submissions, 529 related to the proposed introduction of parking charges at 14 coastal car parks, including Balbriggan, Loughshinny, Donabate, Tower Bay, Portrane, Skerries Red Island, and Rush South Beach.

The top five main subjects of these submissions, according to the presentation, were: car parks should remain free of charge (102 submissions); there’s a lack of public transport, walking and cycling access to beaches (83); the new charge would be an added financial burden (50); charges would impact local residents (65); there are mental and physical health benefits of going to the beach – car parks should remain free (37).

After this public feedback, eight coastal car parks were removed from the list for the introduction of charges, after a large number of complaints during public feedback.

That leaves six, including Balbriggan’s Mill Street, Skerries’ Red Island, Howth Summit, Bridgefield in Malahide, Coast Road in Malahide, and Portmarnock Beach Car Park, Strand Road.

The proposal is that visitors to almost all of those beaches would get two hours free before the charges begin – except at Mill Street in Balbriggan, where fees kick in after the first hour. 

After that, at Coast Road in Malahide, Skerries, Portmarnock and Howth, the cost after the first two hours would be €1 an hour, up to a maximum of €5 a day. 

At Bridgefield in Malahide, and Mill Street in Balbriggan, the cost after the first hour would be €1.70 an hour, and the maximum stay would be three hours. 

At the meeting, many councillors backed the changes in the end, although several questioned why Balbriggan’s Mill Street car park would offer only an hour of free parking, while the rest of the car parks with charges would allow two. 

And questions also remained about how the imposition of these new charges would affect local businesses, and how the council would monitor overflow, when, for example, drivers elect to park on grass nearby to avoid the charges.

Public transport links

The idea that new parking charges at coastal car parks would push people to choose to take public transport to the beaches, rather than driving, is not realistic, Fingal councillors and residents say.

Many of Fingal’s beaches have poor public transport links, says Green Party Councillor David Healy. 

Labour Councillor James Humphreys said access by public transport from inland towns like Swords remains limited.

“The buses out of Portmarnock and Donabate, which would probably be the two closest beaches for us, are nowhere near sufficient enough,” Humphreys said. 

“And even with BusConnects, it doesn’t significantly improve the connectivity,” he said.

Resident Geraldine Fagan, who lives near Loughshinny, wrote in her submission to the public consultation that, “Public transport is not a suitable alternative for anyone visiting Loughshinny Beach.” 

“It’s unreasonable to expect anyone to bring their children, elderly relatives, dogs, bags, equipment, etc. on the bus” and then make the long walk from the nearest bus stop or train station to get there, she wrote. 

Sean Byrne of Loughshinny agreed, in his submission: “The majority of visitors have no viable option but to travel by car.”

This all means that the parking charges would unfairly penalise people who have no option other than to drive, said Fingal resident Anh Nguyen in a submission to the public consultation. 

“Until sustainable transport options are improved, these charges would create inequality and restrict access to our coastline,” the submission said. 

“Introducing charges will discourage families, older people, and lower-income residents from visiting, while also harming local businesses that rely on beachgoers,” the submissions says.

Revenue stream

Tom O’Leary, the Fine Gael councillor, said the intention behind the parking changes isn’t to deter people but to manage space and reinvest in local upkeep.

The increased revenue from raising on-street car parking, residential car parking, and coastal car parking fees would – according to the presentation – be used to fund: three additional traffic wardens, increased cleaning of beaches and villages during the summer months, and increased costs of recycling centres.

Independent Councillor Tony Murphy said parking fees shouldn’t be treated as a “revenue stream”.

“I think it should be about maximising the space for needs,” he said. “Mill Street needs to be a short-term car park, essential for turnover, but I also agree charges need to be the same across areas, with two hours free.”

Healy, the Green Party councillor, says the aim of the parking charges should be to manage the availability of parking where there’s excessive demand.

Coyne, walking back along Balbriggan Beach with his dog, said he doesn’t see it that way.

“I think people just want to be able to get here and walk,” he said. “We’re not here to take up space – we’re here because it’s the sea.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.