Council approves plans to revamp Skerries' Harbour Road

Fingal councillors voted to go ahead with the Harbour Road and Red Island loop scheme in Skerries – despite significant local opposition.

The active travel scheme will now see the council rolling out wider footpaths, more space for outdoors dining, and better facilities for cyclists and pedestrians. 

The number of parking spaces is being reduced significantly on the Harbour Road and relocated up to the Red Island car park, according to the council’s Part 8 planning application.

“Overall, the number of parking spaces across the scheme remains unchanged, albeit in slightly different areas,” council civil engineer Sinéad Murphy said. And there’ll be more, bigger age-friendly spaces – and wheelchair accessible spaces, she said.

It was an exciting new project for the peninsula, said Fianna Fáil Councillor Eoghan O’Brien. “These are leaps in terms of our public realm, and facilitation of active travel that are going to transform towns and villages.”

But local Labour Councillor Brendan Ryan wasn’t so optimistic.

He wouldn’t be supporting the proposal, because the Fingal Coastal Way project is set to pass through Skerries at the foot of the Harbour Road, and an active travel plan is being prepared for the whole of the town, he said. “So there is no shortage of cycling and pedestrian infrastructure when this is in place.”

This is a working harbour and the centre of hospitality in the town, as well as the prime location for water sports and activities, he said. “To most observers, the proposal looks good and it does indeed.”

But, it is going to impact on the businesses and groups in the area, he said. “All of the businesses are against it. Workers in the area are against it. Older and less able customers of restaurants are against it.”

He went on listing those opposed to it: residents, sailing club members, the Sea Scouts, the rowing club. Even the local Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s members made submissions against it, he said. “All opposed to it, and feel they have not been listened to.”

There were 113 submissions made in the public consultations that were critical of the project, while only 31 were supportive, he said.

It creates more problems for local businesses and organisations than it solves, being predominantly a public-realm project, with limited impact to active travel, he said. “There will be no reduction in cars.”

But, the relocation of more parking from the Harbour Road up to Red Island, and the additional cycleway would lead to a reduction in green space, he said. “Are we to give up all our green space to cycle infrastructure?”

Green Party Councillor David Healy said the Harbour Road is an area that is hostile to pedestrians. “Hostile in particular to children and older people, and prioritising parking over safety and comfort.”

The design here could reverse that, he said. “It’s prioritising the public realm. It’s making more open space.”

The existing parking arrangements are not safe, Fine Gael councillor and local Tom O’Leary said. “The spaces are too narrow, and you have to try and wriggle in there.”

They aren’t fit for purpose, he said. “I know some locals are worried about it. But I’m taking a leap of faith here having lived there 60 years.”

Overall, there wouldn’t be a net loss of parking spaces. There will be 191 before this work is done, said Breen Doris, a senior executive engineer with the active travel unit. “And at the end of the project, there will still remain to be 191 spaces when we look at both Red Island and Harbour Road.”

Harbour Road would be reduced from 50 spaces to 25, he said. “Of those 50 spaces, there is 17 of them substandard. The others open directly onto traffic.”

Those being moved up to Red Island wouldn’t see the removal of green space, he said. But rather the rationalisation of existing parking space.

There are only six wheelchair spaces. They are aiming for 13, he said. Likewise, age-friendly spaces would go from zero to 59, and EV charging points would go from zero to 13.

Before councillors voted on whether to approve the Part 8 planning for the scheme, Ryan tabled a motion asking that it didn’t proceed due to the adverse impact locally, suggesting instead “less impactful changes be considered as part of an overall active travel plan for Skerries”.

But, he lost the vote by 2 to 35, with the eventual Part 8 winning out by the same numbers.