Active travel agenda on the move at Fingal County Council
Since the creation, in late 2020, of an Environment, Climate Action and Active Travel Department by Fingal County Council significant progress has been made in developing the active travel agenda by the local authority.
The new department has responsibility for mobility planning and the delivery of the National Transport Authority’s cycle network within the county, while also overseeing Climate Action, the enforcement of environmental regulations and the protection and promotion of the environment across the county.
Active travel is travelling with a purpose using your own energy which usually means walking or cycling as part of a purposeful journey. The Council’s objective is to build active travel into everyday life as part of normal daily routines, and it is working to meet this goal by providing infrastructure and initiatives designed to promote active travel.
Director of Services, David Storey, heads the department and is supported by a team who bring skills in planning and strategic infrastructure, community engagement, communications, and administration.
“Collaboration is key to the work we are doing in active travel,” says Storey. “We work very closely with our colleagues in strategic infrastructure to ensure the work they are doing on greenways knits with the active travel philosophy. Our role is not just to build cycle lanes or provide safe routes to school, we are really working to change behaviour and create a vision of our towns and villages where active travel is the primary means of travel and everyone can safely and easily avail of walking and cycling facilities.”
There are several major greenway projects underway including a flagship amenity, the Fingal Costal Way, which will extend 32km from Newbridge Demesne to Balbriggan and deliver a safe, attractive, first class coastal pedestrian and cycle route. The route is to be predominantly a leisure and tourist amenity but will also serve as a local commuter route. The second stage of public consultation recently ended and preliminary designs will be developed throughout 2021 with further public consultation due to take place early next year.
Additional greenway projects under development and consultation at this time across Fingal include the Broadmeadow Greenway and the Royal Canal Urban Greenway, which will link with Dublin and Kildare projects to form a key part of the wider Greenways Ireland network.
Fingal County Council opened the Baldoyle to Portmarnock Greenway last year, serving residents and visitors. This project, delivered at a cost of €2.5 million with 50 per cent funding from the National Transport Authority, is the first phase of the Sutton to Malahide Greenway. This amenity has proven hugely popular with locals and visitors alike.
Summer 2021 has seen the expansion of Fingal’s bike-sharing scheme. Cyclists can now avail of Bleeperbike GPS enabled smart bikes in Swords, Malahide, Howth, Balbriggan, Donabate, Rush and Skerries. Using an app, users can register, find their nearest bike and unlock it. Without the docking stations associated with traditional bike share schemes, cyclists can park at any cycle parking stand near their destination and lock their bike manually.
“We work very closely with our colleagues in strategic infrastructure to ensure the work they are doing on greenways knits with the active travel philosophy. Our role is not just to build cycle lanes or provide safe routes to school, we are really working to change behaviour and create a vision of our towns and villages where active travel is the primary means of travel and everyone can safely and easily avail of walking and cycling facilities.”
— David Storey, Director of Services for Environment, Climate Change and Active Travel, Fingal County Council
Active travel is not only about delivering leisure and recreation amenities, it is also focussed on changing behaviour with a goal to promote cycling and walking as the preferred option for all journeys under 5km. Fingal County Council’s Active Travel team are modifying and, where needed, creating infrastructure to meet this goal. A residential satisfaction survey carried out by RED C in 2019 showed 58 per cent of Fingal residents commute to work or college by car and only 11 per cent walk or cycle so there is still much work to be done in changing hearts and minds as well as providing infrastructure and facilities to enable that change.
Several protected cycle lane projects are currently underway in locations including Hartstown, Huntstown, Baldoyle and Rivervalley. These projects involve installing a blend of measures tailored to each area. Measures may include reflective bollards, new bus stop layouts and corner build-outs at junctions which reduce pedestrian crossing distances. These measures are designed to provide people aged eight to 80 with confidence and an improved feeling of security when walking or cycling.
The journey to school is just one area where the active travel team are seeing an appetite change. parents and schools alike have been enthusiastic about the development of safer routes to school for children. In 2018, Fingal County Council conducted research that showed 79 per cent of children were being driven to school, and RSA reports have supported these very high numbers stating that roads are ‘incredibly dangerous for small children’.
To combat the danger and encourage safe routes to school the active travel team has proposed several projects including School Streets, a temporary car free zone designed to combat school gate traffic congestion and road safety risks, and cycle buses, a volunteer led safe group cycle to school initiative. Fingal’s first cycle bus launched this May at Castleknock Educate Together NS, with high praise and support from parents and children.
Other community centric programmes delivered by active travel include Gear Up for Training, an initiative encouraging cycling to training by sports club youth members and the upcoming Cycling Without Age programme which provides access to cycling experiences for elderly and mobility impaired people using ‘tribike’ rides delivered by volunteers.
Mayor of Fingal, Cllr David Healy, says active travel is a vital element in the future of Fingal: “Ten years from now I believe we will be enjoying cleaner, more environmentally friendly modes of transport as the norm. Cycling and walking are more sustainable, affordable and enjoyable than travelling by car and their popularity has already grown massively. Fingal County Council’s active travel strategy has put in place infrastructure and resources that empower people to make more active travel choices that can benefit their health and contribute to a bright future for our beautiful county.”
Fingal County Council
T: 01 890 5000
W: www.fingal.ie
S: @fingalcoco
