New town could become ‘Ireland’s biggest traffic jam’

RESIDENTS living beside Adamstown — Dublin’s newest town — want guarantees that the area won’t become the State’s biggest traffic jam.

The Adamstown plan was pushed through by 15 votes to two at a meeting of South Dublin County Council last week.

The town, with a projected population of over 25,000, will be sited just south of Lucan, Ireland’s fastest-growing urban area.

The region already has inadequate public transport services and chronically congested road networks, it is claimed.

Tom Dowling, spokesperson for the Deliver it Right Campaign representing Lucan’s four main community groups, said they were not opposed to the planned development of over 10,000 additional houses on the 500-acre site, but were anxious to ensure the necessary infrastructure was in place from the start.

“We have a train station, but we have no guarantee that Iarnród Éireann will put extra trains on the track. We have Quality Bus Corridors, but we have no guarantee from Dublin Bus that the extra buses will be provided,” he pointed out.

According to the Central Statistics Office, Lucan has trebled in size over the past 10 years, and was Ireland’s fastest-growing area between 1996 and 2001.

“All we got over that period is one additional bus route, that spends almost half an hour passing through all the estates before it even reaches the N4 and heads for Dublin,” said Mr Dowling.

At the best of times, he added, it can take an hour and a half to get from Lucan to Dublin city centre by car.

“Adamstown is right on the Kildare border, so the combined area is heading for gridlock if there isn’t a proper bus and train service,” he warned.

“The guarantees must be there to make the town work, otherwise we are looking at another Tallaght,” he said.

“Tallaght was a good idea, but the reason it failed in the beginning was because of infrastructural problems.”

The provision of schools is another key issue. There are plans for three additional primary schools and one secondary school for the new development, but there is no guarantee from the Department of Education that the necessary teachers will be appointed.

The Deliver it Right Campaign will be appealing to An Bord Pleanála to ensure that their concerns are addressed in the development plan. They will also argue that the council is obliged by EU law to conduct an environmental impact study.