Back in July, following a poll on the sandyford hall website against the proposed pedestrian/cycle access from Aiken’s Village to Sandyford Hall, the SHRA made a submission to the Draft County Development Plan listing a number of concerns and objections. The County Manager has published his response to all the submissions to the plan. Below is the collated summary and response of the manager to the SHRA submission. Specific Local Objective 27 – Aiken’s Village – Sandyford Hall “To ensure the provision of a combined pedestrian footpath/cycleway (greenway) connection between Aiken’s Village and Sandyford Hall to improve overall local permeability and to facilitate direct access from new residential communities to the Luas Line B1 public transport corridor”. Sandyford Hall Residents Association's submission (as summarised by the County Manager): The footpath/cycleway would expose property and children to security issues and would impact on the residential amenity of residents in Sandyford Hall. Alternative routes should be investigated. Also - Parking control, illegal parking in Sandyford Hall. County Manager's response: This is a specific objective of the Stepaside Action Plan July 2000. The reasons proposed by the Sandyford Hall Residents Association not to install this link is the very reason why the link should be installed i.e. convenient walking/cycling access to public transport and shops with consequent reduced reliance on the private car. Policy T12 – Cycling and Walking stresses the need to ensure and improve maximum permeability and connectivity. The design of the route will be such to ensure concerns relating to anti-social behaviour are obviated. The link will be lit along its length. The issue of parking due to school ‘drop off’ patterns as raised in the submission is purely conjecture at this stage and will be addressed if and when such an issue arises. Similarly any potential issues of inconsiderate all day commuter parking by patrons of the Luas system can be addressed by means of introducing resident parking controls.
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