'We are starting to relax again': Cork woman relieved after NTA scraps plans to carve up her garden
Sarah Adeleke with her children Rosa and Elise in the back garden of their house at Curragh Woods, Frankfield, Cork, showing the boundary wall which was to be knocked under the BusConnects plan to make room for bus and bike lanes on the Ballycurreen/ Airport Road. Picture: Dan Linehan
A woman who risked losing almost half her family's garden in the BusConnects plans has spoken of her relief after the National Transport Authority (NTA) scrapped the proposals for her home.
“We are starting to relax again,” Sarah Adeleke said.
“We had talked about getting our attic converted but we put that on hold last year when this was hanging over us. We just felt ‘why are we investing in this house with his hanging over us’.
“But now we are back to looking to the future. It feels like the house is ours again.”
Ms Adeleke spoke of her devastation last October when she and her husband studied the draft proposals for a sustainable transport corridor (STC) between Kinsale Rd and Douglas.
They included plans to widen the road on the far side of the high boundary wall which runs alongside their home for a bus and bike lane, with the boundary wall due to be rebuilt closer to their home.
It would have resulted in the loss of a large chunk of their drive, the loss of their car-parking space, the loss of the area to the side of their house where their shed is and where they store their bins, and the loss of a large chunk of their back garden.
However, the NTA indicated in a briefing before Christmas it would not be “interfering with her property”.
“We were told that it would have been technically difficult to make the planned changes to the wall, but we were wondering why they couldn’t have figured that out before suggesting it in the first place and causing all that stress and worry," Ms Adeleke said.
The NTA confirmed on Thursday that the increased use of signal-controlled priority had reduced the need for dedicated bus lanes and road widening on several parts of the route, thereby reducing the impacts on private properties.
But Ms Adeleke said she has received nothing in writing yet.
“We’ve heard nothing since that online meeting. I haven’t seen the new plans. I didn’t even know the new plans were being unveiled on Thursday,” she said.
“I would like to get it in writing that our property won’t be affected anymore. I would love to have closure and just be able to move on with our lives now.”
