Safety of children to the fore as Wexford council holds public meeting for safe routes to school scheme in Kiltealy

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

For the second time in just over a week Wexford County Council (WCC) staff have come out and met the public to discuss what have become increasingly divisive Safe Routes to School (SRTS) schemes. Following on from a meeting in The Ballagh, engineers, councillors, and director of services for roads Mr Eamonn Hore spent five hours in Kiltealy Community Centre addressing the concerns of those who fear the scheme will create more problems than it resolves in the village.

The (SRTS) programme is designed to improve safety and accessibility for students walking and cycling to school. It is coordinated by An Taisce, funded by the Department of Transport via the National Transport Authority, and is delivered in collaboration with WCC. For Kiltealy NS, which currently sees 84 per cent of students travelling to class by car, this will mean the construction of safe crossing points, reduced road widths and the inclusion of segregated walking and cycling paths to and from the school.

However, upon the publication of the proposed SRTS scheme for Kiltealy earlier this year, WCC received 94 written submissions from members of the local community, the majority of which voiced their opposition to the proposals.

Among their concerns were the use of nearby car parks as drop-off points for children and potential congestion at car parks in the community centre and the church. With SRTS primarily focused on moving all traffic away from schools and preventing parents from driving to the gates to collect and drop-off their children, other submissions questioned the wisdom of effectively forcing people to walk to school, during bad weather, with three or four children.

One of the overriding themes in all those submissions was the sense that WCC was not listening to the concerns of the local community and that the works were going to go ahead without any proper public consultation.

In an effort to alleviate those concerns, Mr Hore and his staff set up detailed drawings and maps of the proposed works in the community centre on Thursday afternoon and fielded questions from those who continued to voice their opposition to the plans.

Many of those attending the public consultation were quietly in favour of the works and were quick to praise council officials for coming and, not only listening to their concerns, but also implementing changes on foot of those discussions.

“WCC has listened to people’s concerns,” said Anita Brennan. “One concern I had was the construction of footpaths all the way through the village, and that’s been reduced now. My children currently walk to school anyway, but it’s not ideal with the speed of the cars coming through. However, when this is complete it will be a lot safer, all the speed ramps will make a huge difference.”

Another attendee, who wished not to be named, said the scheme had divided the community to such an extent that it had caused some of those in favour of the works to shy away from the public consultation.

“There’s been a lot of intimidation going on and that was evident throughout the consultation in the community centre,” they said. “And this is not just me saying this, five or six people I spoke to felt the same. It’s been going on since the very beginning, to the extent that some people chose not to come here today because they knew what it would be like when they got here.

"There were signs put up around the village, we weren’t going to do similar, it would have turned it into a circus. That’s why a lot of those in favour of the scheme weren’t heard as much. There’s ways and means of doing things, and ultimately the submissions were read and listened to by the council.”

All six of the Enniscorthy district’s councillors were in attendance throughout the course of the day and Fine Gael’s Pat Kehoe said that presenting the information in person had allowed locals to see first-hand how the alterations will affect the village.

“I think people are glad the council staff have come up here today and put everything on display for them to see,” he said. “It’s much clearer once you see it here in person, the engineers have made significant changes, they have taken a lot of the footpath out of the village – which was a major concern for a lot of people who contacted me about this.

“The general consensus is that safety has to be paramount, people have concerns about certain aspects of the scheme but, to date, even with the queries I’ve brought to them, the council’s staff have listened. WCC is open to change, but it’s governed by guidelines set in place which are outside of its control by the SRTS team.”

Asked whether he would be voting in favour of the scheme when it came to the EMD next month, Cllr Kehoe replied, “I 100 per cent will be voting for safety at the school in Kiltealy.”

While he will not have any official say in the progress of this scheme, Senator Cathal Byrne has a vested interest in the works given that he is a past pupil of Kiltealy NS. And, like his Fine Gael colleague, he was in favour of the scheme going ahead.

“It’s very important that the council facilitated this day so that people can speak directly with the engineers and give their feedback, often, unless you’re in front of a map or a drawing and you get the perspective of the engineer, it’s hard to find the balance,” he said. “The focus now has to be on getting safety right in the village,”

Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy said that, while there were still some dissenting voices, she had heard a lot of positivity from those who had come to speak to the council’s engineers.

“People feel that what they’re saying today is being taken note of and any of the little suggestions are being taken on board. They feel the council is now listening,” she said. “There are still some people who don’t want any changes to Kiltealy and I can understand where they’re coming from too. But it’s important that people know the council will listen and that this is the way we should be doing things.

“Since I first became a councillor in 2004 I’ve had people asking me if the speed in Kiltealy could be addressed and if we could make it safer for children in the school. And this will make it safer for both the children in the school and the people in the village.”

Asked whether she would be voting in favour of the scheme in September, the Fianna Fáil councillor had a couple of suggestions of her own, “I have asked that they put a disabled parking spot at the cemetery and perhaps an age-friendly space,” she said.

Having discussed the plans in depth with council staff and engineers, the Kiltealy NS Board of Management issued the following statement regarding the SRTS scheme at their school.

"The Board of Management of Kiltealy NS welcomed the opportunity for residents of the community to review the revised plans presented by WCC on Thursday. Where possible these updated proposals reflect the submissions made by community members during the recent public consultation, highlighting the value of public engagement in shaping local developments.

“The public meeting provided a valuable forum for residents to voice concerns about the revised plans. We would like to express our gratitude to WCC engineers who were on hand to respond to queries and offer clarification, ensuring transparency and open dialogue. The open forum format made it easier for all attendees to be heard and to ask questions directly, fostering a more inclusive and constructive discussion.

“We are encouraged by the council’s commitment to addressing key issues, particularly those related to speed and congestion outside the school. These revised plans mark a meaningful step toward a solution that balances the needs of all stakeholders. Above all, the Board remains confident that WCC will return with a final plan that considers further feedback received yesterday and places the safety and wellbeing of children at its core, while also meeting the broader needs of the community."

After meeting with Mr Hore and outlining his concerns in person, Kieron Doyle, who has objected to the works from the outset, maintained that many of the issues he, and others, had with the scheme were not being looked at.

“There’s still no drop-off at the school in the plans,” he noted. “There’s parking spaces opposite the school which are being used by the teachers right now and they’re on the hard shoulder. The people who live on that side of the road have a constant issue with sightlines when exiting their homes, it’s dangerous for them to come out on to the road.

"We asked if the council could consider moving where the teachers park, move them here to the community centre and use those spaces on the hard shoulder for drop-offs. It would only be used temporarily in the mornings and afternoons and would be clear for the residents for the rest of the day.”

With regards to those car parks, which are situated at the community centre (250m from the school), the cemetery (200m), and the church (400m), Kieron contended that two of them do not currently meet Health and Safety Authority (HSA) guidelines and therefore need to be upgraded before they can be used for the purposes of ‘park and stride’.

“They should have a flow with an exit and an entrance, you would have to remove six spaces to create a flow system, I would like to see that on the plans,” he said. “They also require lights and an even surface. If there’s plans to make revisions to the car park that needs to be presented to the people so they can have a look at it.”

Speaking after the event, which saw over 120 people visit the community centre during the five-hours of consultation, Mr Hore said “The overall sentiment was that people are very much in favour of making the village safer, not only for the children but also for all who live in the village. There was almost unanimous approval for ramps, safe pedestrian crossings, additional public lighting, and footpath improvements.

The extent of new footpaths was much reduced following earlier submissions and observations whilst still keeping safe pedestrian movement through the village. The main issue with a number of people was the placing of pencil bollards outside the school itself, preventing the parking of cars on the footpath/road during school drop off. However, this is one of the key tenets of the Safe Routes to Schools Guidance.

"Most people attending were very complimentary of the engagement with the public, with the clear drawings, presentations and the detailed conversations with the WCC staff present.”

Noting that “some particularly good suggestions and observations were put forward” during the consultation Mr Hore said WCC will now prepare a final SRTS design for the village.