No bus service for new Wexford town residents despite congestion fears – ‘from an environmental point of view this makes no sense’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Residents in newly-developed Wexford town estates face the prospect of going without public transport until at least 2027 due to the poor conditions of the surrounding roads. Having previously requested that a bus service be introduced to the Coolcotts Lane area of the town, Councillor Leonard Kelly said that, given the number of new estates being built, there was now an even greater need for public transport.

“I approached Wexford Bus previously about the possibility of introducing a bus service to Coolcotts Lane, at the time there were issues relating to the road surface, but there’s a lot more housing up there now,” he said at the December meeting of the Wexford Borough District."

"I really would like to see a bus service there. There’s a vast amount of housing going to be built in that area and it’s going to become very congested so anything which would alleviate that would be helpful.”

However, despite applying for funding to improve the roads in Coolcotts Lane and Whiterock Hill, executive engineer Lar Lett said there was little hope of works being carried out in those areas this year.

“To make it more achievable for the bus providers we need to upgrade the roads there, unfortunately I have been informed we won’t receive funding for them in 2026 which is disappointing. I will see if the department (of transport) will look at it more favourably in 2027.”

For Cllr Kelly this was another example of houses being built without any forethought given to how residents will commute to and from their new properties.

“If we’re building all of these new communities and not providing public transport then we’re falling down in our climate action commitments, from an environmental point of view this makes no sense.”