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Following initial meetings with the NTA, a group of concerned people came together to represent a community view to the NTA. This contact group included the Save Shankill Village campaign; Shankill Tidy Towns; CRANN-Trees for Ireland; the Catholic parish (as St Anne’s Church was directly impacted, together with representatives of local businesses and residents’ associations as well as some concerned individuals and have engaged with the NTA over the past 18 months regarding Route 13.

A Zoom meeting in December last saw our concerns raised forcefully by participants from The Local Group and a commitment was given by the Vice-chair of the NTA to look again at the Corbawn Lane issue. We now know that they did, but not in a way that makes sense to the now increasingly disillusioned members of the Local Group.

On February 23, the NTA held a Zoom meeting with The Local Group it has been in discussion with for the past 18 months and provided graphics and simulations showing 4 alternative plans for our roundabout and Corbawn Lane, none of which reflected the retention of the status quo (roundabout plus Entry/Exit at Corbawn Lane) or even a modified version thereof. It was not surprising then that they found three of these alternatives put forward by themselves, unsatisfactory. In other words, they didn’t listen and instead showed the ‘solution’ they intend to proceed with (the same as they decided last year), thus negating the whole ‘consultation’ process and effectively ignoring the concerns of residents in Corbawn. The NTA has also refused to develop a simulation between their preferred option and ours (retain the status quo re roundabout and Corbawn Lane) to facilitate comparison.

Looking at the traffic flows in the simulations, it was obvious something was wrong. Traffic made it in and out as far as Dorney Court but bizarrely it showed little activity involving Corbawn estates. Also, there were no tailbacks during peak times in this simulation of life in Corbawn in 2028. This despite backups readily visible on a weekly basis currently.

The NTA has committed to making this material available shortly so you will be able to make up your own mind. We will publish details on how to access these when available.

The people who attended, fought (albeit, diplomatically) every inch of the way against this brash betrayal of trust, but to no avail. No information was forthcoming regarding the submissions made by residents either and a key person from the NTA repeated numbers of times how difficult his job was, given that residents in all 16 routes also had objections in relation to the NTA plans.

Stop Route 13 at Loughlinstown – new consensus? Ultimately, the Local Group pushed to have Route 13 stop at Loughlinstown and not proceed through the village, thus also preventing the worst-case scenario for Corbawn and other unwelcome changes within Shankill. While this was not rejected outright by the NTA it became clear that what they will most likely put forward to An Bord Pleannala shortly will not reflect the wishes of the community in Corbawn / Shankill, albeit a few welcome adjustments have been made.

Outline of the NTA’s Plan of Action going forward                   

NTA Plans – stages

  • Finalisation of Preferred Route (Q1 2021)
  • Preparation of Statutory Application to An Bord Pleannala
  • Optimise Engineering Design 
  • Prepare Environmental Impact Assessment Report 
  • Define property requirements and prepare CPO.

Regarding the NTA An Bord Pleanála Application 

  • Submission of Statutory Planning Application to An Bord Pleanála
  • Statutory Consultation in accordance with the legislative requirements 
  • An Bord Pleanála deliberations including an Oral Hearing where required ¬
  • An Bord Pleanála to:

1. approve the application, approve with conditions, or refuse the application; and

2. confirm, amend, or reject the CPO.

(Following that and providing nobody seeks a Judicial Review of the Bord’s decisions and nobody Appeals any aspect to the EU):

  • Construction Commences on a Phased Basis – Each corridor upgrade will take approximately 2 years to complete

(Note re – Statutory Consultation in accordance with the legislative requirements.

Once the NTA makes its application to An Bord Pleannala, there is a statutory requirement that allows citizens to make submissions (€50) challenging the arguments put forward by the NTA. Also, ultimately there are still a few options left, including lobbying and political pressure  where people feel it necessary to mitigate aspects of this plan. Given the costs it may be wise for people to consider some sorts of plebicites/surveys to add to key submissions to give them additional weight in advance of the Bord’s decisions. The media may also play a part in any forward campaign).

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Where that leaves us. It was unquestionably a good effort by the Local Group to push back against the destructive nature of many of the proposals relating to Route 13. Clearly an agreed strategy is needed going forward, and/or there needs to be a broader mechanism or forum created to assist communication between residents and our political representatives.

What Options remain. Lobbying is still a useful strategy and while it involves effort and expence, and the assistance of a professional planner to ensure the manner of any objection/observations to An Bord Pleannala are technically correct and written in language that planners understand and appreciate, clearly we must organise to take the fight to An Bord Pleannala next.

Also to date, we have not engaged with the media, but if the NTA goes against the wishes of the people of Shankill then we must consider a major PR, media, political campaign to prevent this expensive and damaging plan being imposed on us.

Unless we want to witness compromised ambulance, Garda, fire and other emergency services we also need to communivate /lobby the people running these services to challenge the traffic plan being imposed on Corbawn that could undermine our future health and safety. Already the Gardai are seeking a facility to overtake on the proposed single lane exit in Corbawn Lane in emergencies. And what of the elderly population in Beechfield? Speeding ambulances? Fire Tenders? Accidents that need to access Corbawn?

It is make up our minds time, and it is also time to engage with our local TDs and Councillors. On balance, we also probably need to focus all efforts on a more simple objective that in turn delivers what we need re Corbawn Lane.

Stopping Route 13 at Loughlinstown is possibly the most realisable objective going forward, that could achieve this.