Date: 4 February 2022
Green Party TD Steven Matthews met recently with Wicklow County Council and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council to discuss options to progress the Green route to connect Bray Harbour towards Dun Laoghaire Shangannagh lands and the coastal defences to stop coastal erosion north of Bray.
Following the meeting Deputy Matthews said ‘we have a great opportunity here to link Bray Harbour northerly to Shangannagh to provide coastal cycling and walking for recreational use but also for commuter use to link residential areas to the new DART station at Woodbrook or to Bray DART and Seafront. I have been working on this for years with my Green Party colleagues Cllr Erika Doyle in Bray and Minister Ossian Smyth in Dun Laoghaire and there is good commitment to this proposal from both local authorities’
‘There are a number of factors to consider in selecting an appropriate route such as crossing points at the railway and the Shangannagh Stream, land ownership, proximity to serve residential areas and attractiveness of the route and we will be looking at all these matters. Currently a route has developed across the former Bray Golf Club lands via the railway underpass to connect to Corke Abbey and Woodbrook but with the lands due for development this route may end up unavailable. I will be seeking a route to be maintained during the construction phases on the former golf club land and a condition to provide a safe central cycling route through the development if permission is granted’
‘Part of the green route could possibly be incorporated into the coastal defence works underway just north of Bray Harbour. The coastal defences should be completed over the next few months and will address the serious erosion issue along these sandy cliffs due to storm surges. Many residents will be aware that this is the old town dump site and has been eroding into the sea north of Bray Harbour for many years and I have been working to see this issue fixed. These works will stop further erosion into the sea from the old dump and protect water quality in the area for all our marine life and sea swimmers’.
‘Most of the site lies within the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown local authority area and in 2018 they passed a Part 8 Planning application to carry out coastal defence mitigation measures to secure the site from further erosion. A small piece of the site is located within the Bray area so Wicklow CoCo has some involvement in this proposal.
During the Part 8 process we submitted a request to include a cycle/green route incorporated into the coastal defence and this was responded to as being a possibility.’
‘There really is a great opportunity here’ concluded Deputy Matthews ‘both Wicklow and Dun Laoghaire are committed to the objective and this Government has ensured that local authorities have the funding and staff resources to build this. I will continue my on going work on this to see another important part of the East Coast Trail through Wicklow delivered’
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