Fears over ‘hazardous’ safe routes to school scheme in Wexford village – ‘There is pressure to tick a box’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Between May 5-7 of this year 24 residents, business owners, and parents from Ballaghkeene in Co Wexford submitted their concerns regarding the design of a safe routes to school scheme mooted for the village. With traffic in Ballaghkeene a long-time issue, the announcement of the scheme back in November of last year had been initially welcomed.

However, upon seeing the proposed plans, those living locally and those whose children attend the school felt compelled to write to Wexford County Council to voice their concerns.

Almost all of those who wrote to the council asked why there hadn’t been a more thorough public consultation process, asked why the opinions of those who use the existing routes to Ballaghkeene National School weren’t sought, and asked why the scheme appeared, on the face of it, to make walking or cycling to the school more difficult than it already was.

Among the issues cited are the development of a pedestrian crossing on a junction with limited visibility, the narrowing of roads which are regularly populated by trucks and heavy agricultural machinery, the removed of limited parking at the school, the development of a new parking area at the graveyard in the village. the inclusion of landscaping and public seating at the front of the school, and the lack of footpaths on the Derry side of the village.

One submission argued that the scheme will create “more hazards . . . than it will alleviate” with the decision to create a parking area at the graveyard described as “an accident waiting to happen”.

Another stated that a safer, more viable option had been overlooked by the design team: “There is an existing space behind the school near the boxing club which is closer, safer, and far more practical. It has been raised in multiple meetings and is the clear preference of many parents. Why this safer alternative is being overlooked in favour of a hazardous roadside solution is difficult to understand.”

The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is an initiative of the Department of Transport and supported by the Department of Education. It is operated by An Taisce in partnership with the National Transport Authority (NTA) and local authorities, in this instance Wexford County Council (WCC).

Having repeatedly called for a public meeting to discuss the scheme in more depth, parents, residents, and business owners were shocked to read in the Gorey Guardian (June 25) that the scheme, in its current guise, had been approved by county councillors at the June meeting of the Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District (GKMD).

For most, this has been the first they had heard about the scheme since they had made their submissions in early May.

At an emergency meeting on Thursday, June 26, approximately 30 members of the community were joined by a representative of the Ballaghkeene NS Board of Management and one of those county councillors (Paddy Kavanagh) to discuss a scheme which they continued to oppose.

The member of the Board of Management, who wished not to be named, said they had contacted An Taisce with their concerns but they had not been listened to.

“All the school wanted was some traffic calming measures, some ramps, just to slow it down. And then this appeared. The board has been put in a very difficult position, we thought maybe we could have influenced this, there have been numerous representations made by the board and we formed the impression that alterations would be made.

"However, I read the article in The Gorey Guardian and what I took from it was there was no board of management representation when it came to rubber-stamping this plan, it came from county councillors. The board and the school are acutely aware of how much support parents have and continue to give the school over the years. We want to make sure they realise we were not responsible for the implementation of this plan. And there has been communication from the board voicing the concerns raised by parents.”

A parent present at the meeting said the general consensus among those whose children attend the school is that the “nuances of the traffic system in the village have not been taken into consideration”.

"People really care about this village, the community really wants to use this funding, but there has to be a way of doing it right, a way that suits the community and ensures the safety of everyone,” they said. “There was a stakeholder engagement meeting on February 19, only two representatives were invited, one from the board of management and one from the parents association. We were hoping for a village wide consultation on this so we could offer a wide selection of views.”

As the only public representative present, Councillor Kavanagh admitted that the scheme is, in a sense, flawed, and that WCC is “under pressure” to use the funding (estimated to be €200,000) allocated for the works.

“There is pressure to tick a box with An Taisce and use this money in 2025, we’re the village selected, let’s get it done,” said the Wexford Independent Alliance (WIA) councillor. “If I was on the board I’d look for it too – but when you see what goes with it, there’s always a price to pay. What the council has done is hand over responsibility for traffic management to An Taisce, it’s doing all the measures the council should be doing.”

With one grandparent stating that, “without contradiction” her grandchildren will “never walk, cycle or scoot to school if this goes ahead, you’re taking their lives in your hands if you allow them to do so”, all those present at the meeting said they would rather see the money being lost than the scheme go ahead in its current guise.

When asked what options were left for the community, Cllr Kavanagh replied, “I don’t think there are any options, it’s take it or leave it.”

“How do we leave it?” came the response.

The answer to that question was not readily available, with Cllr Kavanagh saying the council’s area engineer was currently in discussions with An Taisce regarding a start date for the works.

After the meeting, principal of Ballaghkeene NS, Adam Nolan, issued the following following statement on behalf of the school’s board of management.

“The Board of Management of Ballaghkeene N.S. has made it clear on numerous occasions, both through face to face meetings and email correspondence, that it cannot make decisions for proposed works to The Ballagh village as part of the Safe Routes to School programme. This falls well outside the jurisdiction of any one stakeholder to decide.

"The main concern of the Board of Management for many years now, has been to make the vicinity at the front of the school safer for pupils and parents alike. It has repeatedly stated that further consultation with other key stakeholders is essential regarding any proposed works to the village area.”