Sir, – Paula Clancy (Letters, August 4th) asserts that discussion about the significant implications of the recent High Court judgment on the proposed cycle lane on Strand Road in Sandymount is "overblown, bordering on the ridiculous", suggesting instead that "what the judgment requires of the council is very simple" and only requires Dublin City Council to apply for planning permission for the cycle lane.
While it is obviously the case that this decision does require that, it is clear from the discussion of the judgment in the media that its implications are likely to be considerably broader.
While Ms Clancy expressly dismisses the concerns of Dublin City Council, her relatively narrow view of the consequences of the judgment differs markedly from the understanding of one of the litigants on the other side of this dispute. In this paper (News, August 2nd), Mannix Flynn suggested that the ruling might facilitate a "vast number of cases" being taken in respect of cycling infrastructure put in place across the city during the pandemic. He went on to say that, "if I had put so much as a bollard in the road I would be thinking I might have a lot of trouble ahead".
Cllr Flynn’s observations merely reflect the reality that following this decision it may well be that many other pieces of cycling infrastructure introduced in the past few years will be forcibly dismantled by an order made pursuant to section 160 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, which allows the courts to direct the reversal of unauthorised development.
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As a frequent user of the new cycle lanes and bollards that have sheltered me from much larger and faster-moving vehicles these last few months, I am horrified at the prospect of them being removed and dismantled by cases such as this.
I can only hope that Ms Clancy’s narrow view of the consequences of the judgment is merely an oversight and not a suggestion that the dismantling of such vital infrastructure would be inconsequential, trivial or overblown. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTOPHER
McMAHON,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – Well done to Mannix Flynn and the residents of Sandymount! They have managed to curb the crusade of these unelected zealots. – Yours, etc,
DON HORGAN,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.