There was a large turnout of local people for a protest against the planned inner relief road in Kilkenny city yesterday.
On a sunny afternoon, people from all parts of the city congregated at the Butts. There were games for the children and a bouncy castle, while the adults played out the final of a local soccer league. The message was clear from all: they do not want more traffic coming through their part of the city.
The development is designed to relieve Kilkenny's traffic congestion, but families from the Butts housing estate and neighbouring areas say their communities will be divided and amenity areas lost if it goes ahead.
Plans for the inner relief road on the western side of the city have been in place for more than a decade. Opponents claim they are out of date and will add to, rather than alleviate, Kilkenny's traffic problems. Residents opposed to the development signed a petition at yesterday's rally at the Waterbarrack, an amenity and sports area adjacent to the Butts.
The rally was intended to be a family day out rather than a conventional protest, said a spokesman for the organisers, the Save the Waterbarrack Committee and the Kilkenny Parishes Action Committee (KPAC). Mr John McGuinness, a Fianna Fail TD opposed to the development, said the road would divide local communities from the Waterbarrack, which was their only "active green space". It would bring heavy traffic through residential areas.
Mr McGuinness was among the majority of city councillors who expressed opposition to the plan at a meeting last week of Kilkenny Corporation.
Residents claim the road, if built, will hasten the development of 1,500 acres of land in the city's western environs. The result would be a doubling of Kilkenny's population over the next two decades.
Ms Kay Brennan of the Save the Waterbarrack Committee claimed that the requirements of developers and motorists were being put before families and communities.
"A road that cuts communities off from children's public play areas and makes sports facilities unusable, without even proposing alternatives, didn't come from anyone with much of a vision for anything only motor cars," she said.
Ms Janet McCormick, secretary of the KPAC, said the group was not anti-development, but was against planning that did not consider the long-term effects.
The issue is to come before today's meeting of Kilkenny County Council and will be discussed by city councillors again next Monday. Kilkenny County Council said there was nobody available to comment.
