ICYMI: Uncertainty over Kilkenny parking by-laws as local councillors debate

Proposed new parking by-laws set to be introduced in Kilkenny City hit a political stumbling block on Friday as councillors voted to postpone the adoption of any new measures.

Leading the charge was Fine Gael’s Cllr David FitzGerald whose motion to defer any vote was seconded by Cllr Joe Malone of Fianna Fáil. It was agreed at the sitting of the Kilkenny City Municipal District to defer the vote to the December sitting, where it will be on the agenda for adoption with or without amendment.

Earlier this year, Kilkenny County Council proposed to replace the Kilkenny Borough Council Parking Control By-Laws 2012 with draft by-laws, which will be known as the Kilkenny City Municipal District Parking Control By-Laws 2025.
A public consultation process took place in recent months with detailed plans made available.

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However, on Friday, a number of councillors expressed their reservations over what was on the table with Cllr FitzGerald requesting a deferral of any verdict until the by-laws could be discussed by councillors in a dedicated session, claiming the council has been ‘going around in circles’ in recent years due to problematic traffic/road decisions in the city.

One aspect of a wide-ranging set of draft by-laws was the point of ‘access only parking’ which in the proposal limits parking to those exclusively with resident’s parking permits, carer’s permits or visitor permits and would apply to 15 housing estates in the city if adopted.

If passed, the same by-law would see a charge of €20 per annum for an initial permit and €15 for a second resident’s permit issued to the same residence in the same year with a €20 cost for carer’s and visitors.

Meanwhile, a number of locations were listed as designated locations for €2 and €5 a day parking as well as short, medium and long term stay parking areas.

In total, five public submissions were received by the local authority which included; residents’ concerns over parked caravans blocking residential areas, a proposal to remove the time limit for those availing of disabled parking bays was submitted while one member of the public issued a submission stating parking on Green’s Hill is becoming a ‘pinch point’.

“Many of the issues raised by councillors have been coming up consistently in meetings for five years or more and there’s no answers,” Cllr FitzGerald said.

“I feel we’re going around in circles as a council and I think it’s time we dedicate a bit of time to have this discussion,” he continued.

The former mayor of the city reminded those gathered of previous mistakes, stressing the importance of not repeating those errors.

Noting last year’s introduction of changes to parking rules, followed by their later reversal, Cllr FitzGerald said: “It’s not that long ago before the last local elections that we were all told we had to get on with passing a whole set of parking by-laws but within a short period of time of that we had to re-address the issue because clearly some of the decisions we made weren’t clearly as thought through as it could have been or should have been at the time.”

Among the other contributors was Cllr Andrew McGuinness of Fianna Fáil who expressed frustration and confusion at the failure to introduce sunflower bays on High Street, a matter initially raised by Cllr Maria Dollard a number of years ago.

“It was a big deal for us as local representatives when we were navigating our way through a controversial issue (the one way system),” he said. “They haven’t appeared yet. Why haven’t they?”

In response, Senior Roads Engineer with Kilkenny County Council, Stan Cullen said sunflower bays are ‘more desirable’ in quieter areas, claiming, it may not be suitable for High Street.

“Ultimately, they are discretionary and prone to abuse,” he added.

Justifying the by-laws, the executive arm of Kilkenny County Council say the amended parking controls are necessary to ensure that finite parking provision within the city is carefully and efficiently managed, to deter illegal parking to maintain flow of traffic and to manage car parking within the city more effectively in areas where there is evidence of excess demand for available spaces.

Mr Cullen also noted the measures would assist the council in promoting alternative modes of transport and help facilitate residents' access to their homes when addressing councillors at Friday’s meeting.

No changes were proposed to the advertised proposals with responses to be issued to the five submissions.

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