Residents protest at tree-loss due to proposed QBC

Residents of Mount Merrion Avenue in south County Dublin have launched a poster campaign in protest at what they claim is the planned felling of up to half of the 80 mature trees along the avenue.

The poster campaign follows a "red ribbon campaign" which saw ribbons tied to the trees which locals claim are to be removed to make way for a quality bus corridor (QBC) linking Blackrock and Dundrum. The QBC would provide public transport access between the DART and Luas.

However, residents of the avenue and surrounding roads maintain the felling of the trees would destroy the character and ambience of the area. They also insist the quality bus corridor is unnecessary and possibly even dangerous, citing insufficient demand and narrow traffic lanes.

The Mount Merrion Avenue Residents' Association claims buses on the proposed route are operating below capacity and the creation of a dedicated bus lane would simply cause additional traffic problems.

The association has lodged its opposition with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Its submission is one of almost 300 received by the council in relation to the project.

The council has said that the tree felling will be kept to a minimum and that as few as eight trees may be lost.

However, a landscape survey carried out for the residents maintained that about 40 trees could go if the proposal goes ahead.

The QBC is being developed by the Quality Bus Corridor Network Office as one of a series planned to expand the city's bus corridors into a web facilitating access across the city and not just to the city centre or DART stations.

It is understood the Mount Merrion Avenue QBC is being designed to provide access for commuters, including UCD students and workers at the Sandyford Industrial Estate, between the DART and Luas lines.

In addition to the development of the QBC along Mount Merrion Avenue, the Blackrock QBC is to be extended to Merrion Gates and Dún Laoghaire.

The council has said a "clear demand" for an extension of the QBC network existed. The Blackrock to Dundrum QBC was just one phase of an expanded network, which would also include a Sandyford to Blackrock corridor.