Outer Relief Road v. Inner Reliefr Road

Last week local newspapers carried several pages advertising Kildare County Council’s Compulsory Purchase Notice relating to lands to be acquired for the Outer Relief Road on the south side of Athy.  This means we are now approaching the final stretch in the long struggle to get traffic relieving measures in place for the town of Athy.  New roads were first mooted in 1976 when the Urban District Council engaged the services of Fearon & Associates.  Their report, issued some months later, recommended the construction of an Inner Relief Road as an immediate short-term measure, with an Outer Relief Road as a medium to long term solution to the town’s developing traffic problems.

 

The report like most reports submitted to government agencies was not acted upon and remained out of sight and out of mind for almost ten years.  In 1985 the issue of the relief roads was raised and during the subsequent discussions it became clear that the report which recommended the construction of an Inner Relief Road through the back square also suggested that no development would be allowed along that new road which was to have 6ft. high walls on either side.  So much for the quality of urban planning in the 1970s!

 

This disclosure prompted much heated debate in the Council chamber and alarm amongst the local townspeople and resulted in a decision to remove the walls from any future road development in the town.  It also prompted the council officials to get a compliant Urban Council to entrust responsibility for any new road development in Athy to Kildare County Council, thereby hoping to limit any further criticism by the townspeople.

 

Over the following years however the Inner Relief Road became a contentious issue and a matter of great concern to the general public.  In September 1998, the Athy Urban Development Group was formed to oppose the construction of the Inner Relief Road and to promote the alternative outer relief route.  The group organised a petition seeking a plebiscite on the best option for the town.  The petition signed by over 2,000 local people was ignored by the Urban District Council. 

 

Council officials claimed that the consultants engaged by the Council identified only 15% of the town traffic as ‘through’ traffic.  This apparently strengthened the County Council’s arguments in favour of an Inner Relief Road.  However, these traffic figures, while used by Council officials on several occasions to support the case for an Inner Relief Road subsequently turned out to be incorrect.  The ‘through’ traffic was in fact in the region of 45%, as was subsequently outlined to the Planning Appeal Board hearing by the Council’s own traffic consultants. 

 

The opponents of the Inner Relief Road, led by the Urban Development Group, consistently put forward the Outer Relief Road as the best solution for the town’s traffic problems.  The nine member Urban District Council was split 6-3 in favour of the Inner Relief Road and the road controversy became a local election issue in June 1999.  That election resulted in the election of five councillors who opposed the Inner Relief Road and favoured the building of the Outer Relief Road, but regrettably within a few weeks of his election one of the Councillors changed his opinion and so gave a majority to the proponents of the Inner Relief Road.

 

The controversy eventually ended with An Bord Pleanala holding a public hearing following Kildare County Council’s application to build the Inner Relief Road.  The hearing was held in the Stand House Hotel, the Curragh and lasted for a week and a day, with numerous consultants and experts called to give evidence on behalf of Kildare County Council.  The decision of the Planning Board delivered some months later refused permission for the Inner Relief Road.  This is believed to be the first time the Planning Appeal Board rejected a road development proposal by a local authority.  Several years have since passed and it is only within the last couple of years that the Outer Relief Road championed by the local people was actively taken up by Kildare County Council. 

 

‘But for Taaffe we would have the Outer Relief Road years ago’ is a canard on the same scale of reality as the oft repeated claim that ‘Dunnes Stores were stopped from setting up in Athy by a well-known local trader’.   That nonsense was actually put to me last week by an otherwise intelligent person who for whatever reason failed to understand that myself and the other opponents of the Inner Relief Road supported from an early stage the construction of the Outer Relief Road.  It has taken Kildare County Council 41 years to accept that the Outer Relief Road and not the Inner Relief Road was the best option for the town of Athy.  The Outer Relief Road when built can make a huge contribution to the industrial and commercial development of Athy.

 

The Inner Relief Road controversy

The 1990s heralded the Celtic Tiger years and with it brought extra demands on Athy Urban District Council in terms of planning and development.  These demands were highlighted during the Council’s review of the Town Development Plan for 2000.  The Development Plan put on display for the statutory period was the subject of 484 submissions, the majority of which were described in the Council’s Minute Book as ‘a standard letter from individuals’ relating to the Inner Relief Road objective in the plan.  The Inner Relief Road first mooted in 1976 was under attack by many local people who felt that an Outer Relief Road offered greater possibilities for the industrial and commercial development of Athy. 

Consideration of the Development Plan and the various submissions received continued throughout April and May 1999.  At the Council meeting on 31^st May 1999 the Town Clerk informed the members that at 4.00 p.m. that day he was notified by fax that Mr. Justice Quirke of the High Court had granted an interim injunction to Michael Raggett Builders.  The Court Order restrained the Council from adopting the Town Development Plan without giving due consideration to the submission made on behalf of Messrs Raggetts.  Raggetts wanted certain lands zoned for housing which the Council officials were not prepared to recommend to the elected representatives.  They were apparently concerned that if they acceded to Raggetts’ request consideration of the Development Plan would have to be postponed while it was again put on public display.  If this happened the Plan could not be adopted by the outgoing Council members amongst whom there was a majority in favour of the Inner Relief Road objective.  The Restraining Order was later renewed by the High Court beyond the life of the Council which was replaced following elections in June on that year.

  The Inner Relief Road proposal was a major issue in those local elections and the result of the elections gave a 5:4 majority of newly elected Councillors opposed to the Inner Relief Road.  However, before the Council could meet, one of those Councillors changed his position, thereby ensuring a narrow majority for the pro Inner Relief Road side.  The newly elected Council eventually passed the Development Plan at its meeting on 10^th April 2000.  Attempts to withdraw the Inner Relief Road as an objective in the Development Plan were defeated by 5 votes to 4.  The victory was however short-lived as An Taisce pressed for an oral hearing which was granted by the Minister for Local Government.  The subsequent oral hearing which lasted for a week and a day in the Standhouse Hotel on the Curragh was followed by the Planning Board’s decision that permission for the Inner Relief Road for Athy was refused.  This is believed to have been the first time that the Planning Appeal Board rejected a road development proposal by a local authority.  The decision was the subject of an unsuccessful Judicial Review application by Kildare County Council in the High Court.

The defeat of the Inner Relief Road proposal did not go down well with the Council officials or the majority of the Councillors who had supported it.  Despite the Planning Appeal Board’s decision and that of the High Court the Inner Relief Road remained an objective in the Town Development Plan.  Indeed for some years after the events of 2000 the Inner Relief Road continued to be canvassed by Council officials as the solution not only to Athy’s traffic problems, but also the town’s declining retailing life.

It was only in very recent years that the merits of the Outer Relief Road came to be accepted by those who had previously canvassed for the Inner Relief Road.  Funding has now been promised for the Outer Relief Road and a recent public consultation process gave the local people an opportunity to review the three route options which are now under consideration.  To the original route has been added a route which skirts around local sports fields in Geraldine and leaves the playing pitches intact.  The third route is on the northern side of the town.

Rather strangely, the results of the recent traffic surveys conducted in and around Athy were not made known during the public consultation process.  One would have thought that such information was relevant and indeed a necessary consideration for any decision to be made on the best route option. However, given the County Council’s past history of furnishing misleading traffic survey results as confirmed at the oral hearing in the Stand House nothing surprises me.  Here’s hoping the County Council move quickly to get the Outer Relief Road in place and hopefully without infringing on the towns unique sporting complex which is enjoyed by the local GAA, Rugby, Tennis and Soccer Clubs.  

Whites Castle and Inner Relief Road following High Court Decision

The tricolour was raised over White’s Castle last weekend.  The last time a flag flew over the ancient fortress was the day the Royal Irish Constabulary vacated the castle and marched through the main street to take over the military barracks in Barrack Lane.  The flag flown that day was of course the Union Jack and the R.I.C. who had occupied the castle as the local R.I.C. Barracks for the previous fifty years or so were moving to the more comfortable and more commodious facilities afforded by the military barracks.  The military barracks had been built in the early part of the 18^th century to house a cavalry troop and it had lain largely unused following the withdrawal of English troops from the town at the end of the Crimean War.  The decision to move the R.I.C. from the town centre location was not met with favour and letters in the local Press of the time confirmed the townspeople’s opposition to the move.  It was felt that Barrack Lane was too far removed from the town and that the R.I.C. would not be able to provide from their new base sufficient patrols to service the main streets of the town.  The complaints went unanswered and the R.I.C. station remained in the old military barracks until the disbandment of the force in 1922.  I have seen a photograph of the take-over of the R.I.C. Barracks in Athy following the Treaty but interestingly enough the new Garda Siochana were not located there when they arrived in Athy in August 1922.

I had my first view of the interior of White’s Castle about two months ago and in that regard I was one of the many thousands of local persons who had never previously had the opportunity to view the interior of the building, which with the neighbouring bridge, is the iconic representation of our town.  The interest in the building as demonstrated by the many thousands who queued patiently last weekend to pass through the doors of White’s Castle owes much to the heightened interest awakened in recent years in our local history and the sense of pride of place which has resulted.

Plans for the future use of White’s Castle are for discussion between its new owner Gabriel Dooley and the Town Council and I hope, as I am sure all of you do, that our local representatives have the foresight to do whatever is necessary to ensure the future use of White’s Castle as a civic amenity for Athy. 

The saga of the Inner Relief Road continues in the High Court on the 14^th of this month.  You will recall that An Bord Pleanala held a six day public hearing on the issues involved, at which a number of expert witnesses retained by Kildare County Council gave evidence, as did a number of local objectors.  The Planning Board subsequently issued it’s decision and in so doing handed down a decision which for the first time in it’s history went against a County Council road scheme.

The County Manager took an executive decision to seek in the High Court a judicial review of the Board’s decision on the basis that the Board’s procedure in arriving at this decision was somewhat imperfect.  In doing so the County Manager did not seek the approval of the elected members of the Council but acted, as he was quite entitled to do so, by way of a managerial order.

The Council’s case includes a claim that while An Bord Pleanala found the Environmental Impact Statement prepared by Kildare County Council deficient in terms of alternative route proposals, the Board did not request the Council to submit such additional information as might have cured those deficiencies.  In not doing so the Council claims that An Bord Pleanala acted unfairly.  The Council also claims that the Board’s decision flew in the face of reason and common sense and was irrational.  I suppose I could make exactly the same response to the County Council claim that despite the fact that 60% of the traffic in Athy was local traffic, the remaining being “through traffic”, the construction of a bypass “would not solve in any way congestion on the main street”.

The admission that 40% of the traffic is “through traffic”, when for years we were told that the figure was 18% or thereabouts gives me grave reason to question the veracity of any information coming from official sources from within the local authority.  The 40% admission was literally dragged out of the Council at the oral hearing but even now the Council refuses to accept that the removal of the through traffic, including as it would all the lorries which daily pass up and down Duke Street and Leinster Street, would alleviate traffic congestion in the town centre.  The County Council’s claim in that regard are as absurd as it’s outdated and as of now, rejected road plan.

In response to submissions made by Kildare County Council An Bord Pleanala points to the fact that the necessity for the new road in the context of potential alternatives was central to the arguments put forward by both the County Council and the local objectors.  The submissions lodged by the various objectors were sent to Kildare County Council well in advance of the oral hearing and consequently the Council were well aware that the issue of alternative routes was one of the most contentious issues raised, especially by Athy Urban Development Group and also by this writer.

I understand that the Town Council within the past week met to consider the adoption of the Town Development Plan which will operate for the next five years.  Rather strangely, given that large portions of that development plan is based on the implementation of the Inner Relief Road project, the Council by a majority of six votes to three nevertheless decided to proceed with the plan as drafted.  If the High Court, following the hearing next week, rejects the County Council’s judicial review application, then all references to the Inner Relief Road will have to be removed from the Town Development Plan.  This will necessitate a major revision of the plan and further public consultation before its eventual adoption by the same elected representatives who last week rushed to judgment on the present development plan knowing that the High Court case was scheduled for hearing two weeks later.

In the meantime the Outer Relief Road still remains an objective in the Town Development Plan and I am told, although how reliably I cannot say, that Kildare County Council are moving ahead with the design work on that road and that the construction of the Outer Relief Road could commence in two years time.  There is no question but there is an urgent need to deal with Athy’s ongoing traffic problems but the solution to the problem lies not in the Inner Relief Road which would only create more traffic chaos in the town.

There is a common misconception that Kildare County Council is “appealing” An Bord Pleanala’s decision.  This is not so.  The decision of An Bord Pleanala is final insofar as the planning process is concerned.  What Kildare County Council is seeking to do is to have the Planning Board’s decision judicially reviewed by the High Court.  Judicial review is not an appeal from the decision already made but a review of the manner in which the  decision was made.  If the High Court finds in favour of Kildare County Council the Planning Board’s decision will be voided and the matter sent back to An Bord Pleanala to start all over again it’s review of the process in relation to the Athy Inner Relief Road.  Incidentally, Kildare County Council is only the second local authority to ever judicially review a decision of An Bord Pleanala in the thirty years of the Board’s existence.  Kilkenny County Council commenced a similar action in 1991 but later withdrew before the case came on for hearing.  This, however, is the first time a County Council has challenged a ruling by An Bord Pleanala over a road scheme.  The outcome of the High Court hearing will be awaited with much interest, not only in Athy but elsewhere throughout Ireland wherever local communities opposed the sometimes unacceptable decisions of local authorities which have done little to protect and nurture the principles of “local Government”.

Bord Pleanala's Rejection of Inner Relief Road

It was Friday, just after 10 o’clock in the evening, when my mobile phone rang.  I was in Brighton, relaxing after a long drive which started in the Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye where I attended the Hay Literary Festival for a few days.  “Francis - some breaking news”.  Only two persons called me by that name, my mother who has gone to her eternal award and my friend, Frank English.  “The Inner Relief Road has been turned down by An Bord Pleanala”.  The message was brief, the reasoning for the decision was not clear but the resulting sense of relief and joy was overwhelming.  This, 29 years after the Urban District Council committed itself to an Inner Relief Road “as a short term traffic relieving measure”.  That same Council way back in 1976 had expected the road to be constructed within two or three years, and for once, those of us who subsequently came to oppose the Inner Relief Road, have much to be grateful for the unbusinesslike Local Government procedures which left the project, like many other local projects, unattended for long periods.

It wasn’t until 1985 or thereabouts after I was first elected to the then Urban District Council that I asked some questions about the planned Inner Relief Road.  Amazingly the information made available to me and the other members of the Urban Council indicated that no development would be allowed along the line of the new road which was to have six foot high walls on either side.  The mind boggles at the insensitive nature of such a development running through the centre of Athy.  It was the first time this information was made known to local Councillors and through the local press to the people of Athy.  The resulting furore not unexpectedly caused the Council officials to rethink the road project and sometime later it was announced that development would be permitted along the route of the new Inner Relief Road. 

The interest aroused by the questions raised in relation to the road lead to further questions and to the questioning of the merit of the Inner Relief Road as compared to that of an Outer Relief Road.  This soon resulted in an attempt to silence further criticism within the local Council Chambers with the adoption of an agreement, which was activated by Council officials, between Athy Urban District Council and Kildare County Council whereby the County Council would take over responsibility for building the new road.  It meant of course that any further questions or indeed criticisms would have to be raised in the County Council Chamber.  That forum was not as readily available as the Urban District Council Chamber to the increasing number of persons who felt the Inner Relief Road was not an appropriate development for Athy and so further discussion of the topic was stymied.  It was sometime before the issue would again become topical and contentious.  The long drawn out saga went through various stages of public debate (remember the Grove Cinema), protest meetings in Emily Square, meetings in the Dominican Hall and a petition for a plebiscite. 

As a former Local Government Official I have to say that I was both surprised and disappointed at the failure of Kildare County Council Officials to engage with the local people on the Inner Relief Road issue.  Over the years many opportunities were presented to these officials to meet the people of Athy to discuss the proposed Inner Relief Road but these opportunities were never availed of.  Instead the County Council relied on the less than satisfactory public consultation process which involved road plans being made available for a specified period and the opportunity for anyone wishing to do so to fill up a pre-prepared Questionnaire.  There was little or no interaction between the County Council and the local people and carefully choreographed so called “consultation processes” did nothing to meet the need for discussion at local level.

Turning to the six day oral hearing for an Athy road scheme I have to question why it was held in the Curragh rather than our own town.  I asked that question on the first day of the hearing and received a less than satisfactory reply.  My understanding is that the venue was chosen by Kildare County Council, and if so, their disregard for the convenience of the general public of Athy is to be regretted.

The decision of An Bord Pleanala is a decision which common sense dictates was to be expected, but to be honest, common sense is not always the predominant feature of planning decisions.  I was disappointed by some of the less than credible claims made on behalf of the County Council at the oral hearing.  “Decentralisation insofar as Athy is concerned is dependant on the Inner Relief Road going ahead” was one such claim.  I was not in a position to refute that when the claim was made at the hearing but since then the Department of Finance has confirmed that it was awaiting a decision on the Inner Relief Road before choosing a site for an office in Athy.   Another claim that the I.D.A. supported the Inner Relief Road as an essential piece of infrastructure was backed up by a letter from a Regional Officer of that organisation.  The I.D.A. organisation or its board did not make any pronouncement on the Inner Relief Road, and, I am told would not do so. 

The decision of An Bord Pleanala was a vindication of the position taken by the majority of the local people on the Inner Relief Road and raises serious questions about the judgment of those Local Government Officials who over the years promoted the scheme, despite local opposition.

I have been very pleasantly surprised at the large number of calls and letters I received since the decision was announced expressing delight at the rejection of the Inner Relief Road.  Many were from men and women, who so far as I am aware, had never publicly expressed their views on the issue.  These included several businessmen whose previous reticence could well be understood and appreciated having regard to their overwhelming desire not to get involved in local controversy.

Kildare County Council through its spokesman, Charlie Talbot, issued a statement last week claiming that the Inner Relief Road was “vital for the social and economic development of Athy”.  All I can say in relation to that is that the Inner Relief Road never was and never could be a catalyst for improving the quality of life in our town or for the regeneration of Athy.  The Inner Relief Road offered less in terms of economic and social development than an Outer Relief Road and the latter has also the clear advantage of ensuring the protection of the unique character of our town centre. 

Athy’s future insofar as infrastructural development is concerned lies in the hands of the Local Government Officials and our public representatives.  It is time to move on and to expedite the building of an Outer Relief Road which given the expansion of the town to date and into the future might now be properly called an Outer Relief Street.

Inner Relief Road History

In 1976 Fearon and Associates carried out a traffic study of Athy following which they recommended that the local Council construct an inner relief road “ as a short term measure” which they suggested “should be put in hand in 1976”.  At the same time a Southern bypass was recommended as a long term measure and the Council accepted both recommendations. The inner relief road project is now sufficiently long in the planning to qualify for inclusion in “Eye on the Past” and so this week I am taking a look at what has happened since Athy Council agreed to proceed with the building of a new road.

I cannot write with any authority on what happened between 1976 and the end of 1985 as my research has not uncovered anything of note. However the County Manager was moved to advise the Urban Council in December 1985 that “the building of the inner relief road will commence in 1986”.

In the face of mounting concerns expressed by Councillors newly elected in June 1985 the County Manager brought forward an agreement whereby Athy Urban District Council assigned responsibility for the design and construction of the inner relief road to Kildare County Council.  This served to silence further debate on the issue in the local Council chamber.  However the concerns which surfaced in 1985 eventually turned to opposition to the Inner Relief Road as many who were previously unaware of what was proposed became familiar with the issue.

In September 1998, Athy  Urban Development Group was formed, to oppose the Inner Relief Road and to seek  support for a local plebiscite on the issue.  Soon thereafter at a  meeting in the Town Hall hosted by Athy Chambers of Commerce, Council officials advised those in attendance “you will be driving on the new road within 5 years”.

On the 30^th  March, 1999 petitions collected by members of Athy Urban Development Group were handed into Athy Urban District Council.  The petitions urged the Council to hold a plebiscite of the local electors on the proposed Inner Relief Road.  When the plebiscite motion eventually came before a meeting of the Urban District Council it was defeated by 5 votes to 4.

Prior to the local elections of June 1999 Council officials brought forward the review of the town development plan hoping to have it adopted before the elections were held.  The development plan included as an objective the construction of the Inner Relief road, and the officials knew if a newly elected Council removed that objective, the Inner Relief Road could not proceed.  The concern of the Council officials was such that after the polling day when some outgoing Councillors had lost their Council seats, a meeting of the outgoing Council was nevertheless called to adopt the town development plan.  Following an application to the High Court an Order was obtained prohibiting the outgoing Council from adopting the development plan.

The future of the Inner Relief road was now in jeopardy as the majority of the Councillors elected in June 1999 canvassed support on the basis of their opposition to the Inner Relief road and supported the call for a plebiscite.  When the new Council met to consider the plebiscite motion it transpired that one of the newly elected Councillors reneged on his committment to support the motion and consequently it was lost by one vote.  A subsequent meeting of Athy Urban District Council adopted the town development plan, retaining as an objective the building of an Inner Relief road.  Prior to voting Councillors were advised by the Deputy County Manager that “money for the building of the road is now available”.

In November 1999 the road design team of Kildare County Council made a presentation to local Councillors in the course of which it was claimed that an outer relief road would remove only 15% of through traffic from the town.  This tended to support the claim that providing an outer relief road would not ease Athy’s traffic problems. The Councillors were also advised that work on the Inner Relief road would commence in “12 to 18 months time”.

On the 21^st June 2000 a Senior Council official advised the Town Councillors that compulsory purchase orders, to acquire land for the road would issue in Spring 2001 and would,  hopefully, be confirmed in September 2001.  He further stated that work on the road would commence in Spring 2002, that the construction of a new bridge over the Barrow would take approximately one year and that the entire road project should be completed in the Spring of 2003.

On the 8^th September 2000, the Town Clerk wrote at the request of the local Councillors to the same Senior Official seeking “formal written confirmation of the availability of funding for the Inner Relief road”.  There is no record of any response to that letter.  On the 10^th July, 2002 the Town Clerk in a report to the Council members advised  “the results of a further traffic study show that the ratio between through traffic (approximately 40%) and traffic that has it’s origin/destination in the town (approximately 60%) remains approximately the same as in previous traffic studies (Contrast that with the information supplied by the Road Design team in November 1999).

In April 2003 O’Sullivan & Co. prepared a preliminary design report on the Relief road which had been commissioned in July 2001.  O’Sullivan’s were the fourth set of consultants to be engaged on this project following on the heels of Fearon & Co., Ace McCarthy & Co. and Shaffrey & Co. The report indicated that the construction contract for the Inner Relief road was to go to tender between August and December 2003.

On the 15^th January, 2004 the local Chamber of Commerce met with officials of Kildare County Council following which a press report was carried in last weeks local papers.  The President of the Chamber expressed himself confident that work on the Inner Relief street which  would commence “by the end of this year”.  Nowhere was there any reference to the Council Officials announcement at the same meeting that there was no money available for the Inner Relief road which is now estimated will cost €20 million. 

That’s some of the history of the tormented Inner Relief road.  On Monday the 2^nd  February a meeting organised by Athy Development Group will be held in the Dominican Hall at 8 p.m. to consider how best to approach the traffic issues facing our town and to chart a way forward.  The meeting is open to the Public.