Kilkenny residents to meet mayor over relief road

Residents' groups in Kilkenny have sought an urgent meeting with the city's mayor, Mr Paul Cuddihy, over a road proposal they claim will devastate local communities.

Families from the Butts housing estate and neighbouring areas in the west of the city say communities will be divided and amenity areas lost if an inner relief road is built as planned.

The road, designed to relieve traffic congestion in the inner suburbs and facilitate development in the city's western environs, was the subject of heated discussion last summer and drew unprecedented crowds to meetings of Kilkenny Corporation.

Since then a consultancy study has been undertaken by the local authority to see if an alternative route can be found, but residents are unhappy at the information they've been given.

Mr Stephen Murphy, a community worker in the Butts and a member of Save the Waterbarrack Group, said residents have still not been told about the terms of reference given to the consultants, despite repeated requests.

However, the Kilkenny county engineer, Mr Don O'Sullivan, said the terms are "quite simple" and outlined them at a public meeting of the corporation. The consultants, Malone O'Regan-Scott Wilson, had been asked to examine the proposed route, to see if there were any alternatives and, if not, advise as to possible amendments which would meet residents' concerns.

The consultants had been told to meet residents' groups and these meetings had taken place over recent months. A report, expected soon, was likely to come before the Corporation's January meeting, he said.

In the meantime, groups including the Kilkenny Parishes Action Committee, Save the Waterbarrack Group, St Canice's Community Action, Earthwatch and other residents' and sporting organisations have elected a delegation to seek a meeting with the mayor. The Water barrack is a popular green space used by residents of the Butts.

Mr Cuddihy said he had received the request on Monday and would meet the group's representatives shortly. "I'm determined that every group in every part of Kilkenny will be given its say, and we will take into account the views of all the people affected along the route before we make a decision."

Although the consultants had met the concerned groups, he said, a second meeting would be organised for those who were unhappy, so everybody could get their point across. Critics of the proposed road say it would have a negative impact on residents of the Butts, College Road-Circular Road, Dean Street, Vicar Street, Green's Bridge and the Freshford Road. They say it will end up taking traffic from the undeveloped western environs where thousands of houses are set to be built.

Mr Murphy claimed a much more comprehensive plan is needed for a development of this scale, which could see Kilkenny double in size. Mr O'Sullivan, however, said that while the development plans for the western environs have yet to be finalised, there is enough information available to take a decision on the route.

The relief road was first mooted in a 1978 land use and transportation study, but the route was not drawn up until 1995 when a transport study was undertaken, Mr O'Sullivan said. While car usage had already reached the level predicted then for 2005, "we don't need to do the 1995 study all over again".

The western environs and inner relief road will both form part of the draft development plan for Kilkenny to be published before the end of the month. This means that even if the consultants come up with a new route, it will be too late for inclusion in the development plan. Mr O'Sullivan said, however, the plan would go on public display and changes could be made in the new year.