COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF LUCAN / PALMERSTOWN / NORTH CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

MOTION NO.27

MOTION: Councillor V. Casserly

Following on from previous request through TMM in September, I am calling on the manager to install colourful pencil bollards in Canonbrook Estate Lucan outside of the National Schools in support of safer pedestrian safety for young students walking to school and to deter illegal and dangerous kerb mounting at school times.

REPORT:

The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programme was developed in partnership by the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Green-Schools, as a response to the need to support schools to increase walking and cycling to school. Details of the SRTS Programme can be found online at this website; Safe Routes to School - Green-Schools (greenschoolsireland.org)

The current SRTS Programme was launched in March 2021 and was open to all schools in Ireland to apply for active travel funding and delivery. Funding is provided annually by the NTA as part of the overall annual allocation to SDCC.

Nationally, the programme received expressions of interest from 932 schools, almost one in four schools in the state. 170 schools were notified in June 2021 that they are part of the first round of funding for SRTS.  A further 108 schools were notified in December 2022 that they were part of the second round of funding for SRTS. Scoil Áine Naofa in Lucan made an application under the programme and were accepted however they were not selected under Rounds 1 or 2 but will be included in a subsequent round.

Due to resource and funding limitations, all schemes at schools cannot progress at the same pace through design, planning processes, procurement and delivery, subsequent schools will be engaged with on a rolling basis. SDCC will engage with the SRTS Team in An Taisce to establish when they can initiate contact with Scoil Áine Naofa, so that the necessary reports and surveys can be conducted to enable funding to be sought from the NTA.

In the interim, a member of the SDCC Active Travel team will visit the location and assess if any low cost fast delivery measures can be taken in 2024.