O’Gorman calls on Fingal CC to pay more attention to Castleknock Train Station

10/01/10

Green Party Dublin West representative, Roderic O’Gorman has called on Fingal County Council to pay more attention to Castleknock Train Station in its Urban Design Plan for Blanchardstown Village.

“I’m calling on called on Fingal County Council to pay more attention to Castleknock Train Station in its Urban Design Plan for Blanchardstown Village. I’m concerned that the current Draft Plan is quite dismissive of the role that Castleknock Train Station plays for the village. The Draft Plan states that the station is “somewhat detached from the village”. It also points out at it is only 1 km from the Village centre”, stated Roderic O’Gorman.

“The Draft Plan also spends a considerable amount of time discussing the positive impact that Metro West will have on the village. While obviously a station at the west end of the Village would be fantastic, I think the Council should be putting at least as much importance on the station we currently have, rather than a station that is some years in the future. This is particularly the case as the number of trains serving Castleknock will increase over the course of this year, with the opening of the Dunboyne line”.

“A large number of commuters from Blanchardstown use the Castleknock Station everyday, and there are a number of measures the Council should look at to make it even more popular. One relatively simple measure would be a pedestrian crossing at the junction of Roselawn Road and the Castleknock Road. Currently, pedestrians take their lives in their hands as the cross between cars”.

“Fingal County Council should also examine widening the path from Blanchardstown up the hump-back bridge (Granard Bridge) over the canal. The path is extremely narrow – in places only one person can walk on it safely. It is particularly dangerous on dark nights when there is a large volume of traffic on the road beside it, or indeed, on icy days like we have experienced over the last two weeks”.

“In my submission on the Blanchardstown Urban Design Plan, I’ve called on Fingal County Council to take measures to better link Castleknock Station with Blanchardstown Village. I hope we see such measures included in the final draft”, concluded Roderic O’Gorman.

Ends

Further Information

Roderic O’Gorman: 087 417 9777