Funding announced for improved walking and cycling facilities in Kilkenny

Walking and cycling facilities are to be improved and expanded in an initiative which will fund Active Travel Teams in all local authorities.

Green Party Minister Malcolm Noonan and Cllr Maria Dollard have welcomed the announcement by their colleague Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton of the employment of ‘Active Travel Teams’ across all local authorities in the State.

 Minister Noonan said that the investment 'marks a radical departure in how we configure our urban centres'.

"Having campaigned for many years on cycling and walking in my own hometown, I think that this investment marks a radical departure in how we configure our urban centres; large and small towards a new way in how we get about. This is the single biggest investment and policy intervention in making that change, in encouraging walking, cycling and use of public transport and in reconfiguring our public spaces away from private car travel," said Minister Noonan.

The Minister added that through employing dedicated, public realm and modal shift specialists, villages, towns and cities could not only be transformed for mobility but improve air quality, free up urban space from cars and bring vibrancy back to town centres in line with Government’s ‘Town Centres First’ policy.

 "It is important now that as councils across the country prepare new city and county development plans, that this radical shift in thinking and additional resources are exploited to best advantage," he added.

Green Party Kilkenny City Councillor Maria Dollard said that this was a transformative initiative, one that could turn the fortunes of towns around for the good.

"We have witnessed so much decline in our town centres through out of town retail, a move to the suburbs, the moving of services to the periphery; and all the while we thought our solution lay in providing more car spaces. Well it doesn’t and now through the deployment of Active Travel Teams, we can work together to afford equal space to the needs of vulnerable road users and embark on innovative public realm and landscaping plans to green our towns and cities," she said.

As part of the plan developed by the National Transport Authority, up to 218 additional staff will be employed across the local authorities with an additional 30 proposed for Regional Cycling Design Offices. The new staff will be dedicated to delivering and promoting active travel in Ireland and will work across design, communication/community liaison and construction oversight functions. The new staff will support the delivery of almost 1,000 kilometres of improved walking and cycling infrastructure by 2025.

Minister Eamon Ryan stated: “Developing high quality walking and cycling facilities will encourage more people to switch to active travel and will contribute to tackling climate change. Really good design is what is needed to connect communities and make walking and cycling attractive, safe and accessible to everyone. I am delighted to confirm that we will fund dedicated resources in all local authorities to deliver on the commitments in the Programme for Government. This is a game-changer in terms of delivering high-quality infrastructure across the country in both rural and urban areas.”

The National Transport Authority has been working with local authorities in recent months to develop a new structure for the delivery of active travel.