‘We killed a bad plan’ say objectors to Salthill cycle lane
Councillors behind the Salthill cycle lane U-turn defended the move by insisting they had “killed a bad plan”.
The decision to scrap the scheme caused an uproar with cycling groups accusing officials of ignoring their safety.
However, Fianna Fáil Councillor Peter Keane said, “When we voted for it the last time, we had not received any plan or detailed design for the cycle lane. That’s a very uncouth way to do politics”.
“The mayor of the city insisted that the vote be taken without any debate and without the sight of any plan. And because in principle we are big supporters of cycling infrastructure we voted for it.”
“But when the plan was published, we were able to see all the possible advantages and disadvantages of it. Unfortunately, this plan was a bad plan which serves nobody. That’s why we had to go back and revoke it,” he said.
“We voted on blind and when you vote on blind, it pays no dividend. You shouldn’t do that. That’s what we learned from this,” he added further.
“What we have done here is that we killed a bad plan and now we need to go to the drawing board and find a more permanent solution to try and deliver an improved cycling infrastructure.”
Independent councillor Terry O’Flaherty defended her stand and said, “Neither of the options presented by the City Council engineers has been sufficiently well thought out. I feel that the current proposal should be scrapped and that an alternative plan for a cycleway should be drawn up, one that would be agreeable to all”.
“I feel that everyone agrees it would be a wonderful facility that could help increase safe bike usage and reduce the amount of traffic on our roads, but it must be one that properly takes into account the needs and views of residents, the business community in Salthill and Knocknacarra, wheelchair users and all road users,” she said.
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