Wicklow Archives - Councillor Derek Mitchell

Sep 24 2020
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Mitchell against Plan to end direct trains from Wicklow

Posted by | Bus/Train, Transport, Wicklow | No Comments

The plans for DART+ to Maynooth involve stopping the peak hour diesel trains from Arklow, Rathdrum, Wicklow & Kilcoole in Greystones and making the passengers transfer to the 2 DARTs per hour there. This is being done to allow 13 DARTs from Maynooth onto the North South line in the peak. ‘I am totally opposed to this as it will mean more people will use their cars, clog up the N11and be bad for Climate Change ‘said Cllr Derek Mitchell who is Chair of the Wicklow Transport Committee. Now there…

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Sep 09 2020
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Dublin should not slow down Wicklow Buses

Posted by | Bus/Train, Transport, Wicklow | No Comments

Cllr Derek Mitchell has asked Dublin City Council not to halve the speed of Wicklow Buses in the City Centre as is proposed. The journey time of buses to the city centre is already too long and proposals to slow them to 30 kph on the main roads would be worse. Cllr Mitchell, who is Chair of the Wicklow Transport Committee, has written to Dublin Council asking that the route of the 84X, 133, Wexford bus and Aircoach to the airport & City Centre should not be reduced to 30…

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May 20 2020
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Offshore Windfarm progress welcome but concern about visual impact of Bray & Kish Bank ones

Posted by | Environment & Bray Head, Greystones, Local Work, Press Release, Wicklow | No Comments

I welcome today’s announcement that 7 projects are decided as Relevant Projects to move forward to the next consent stage. We need to use the wind resources to save carbon. However I am concerned about the visual impact of the Bray & Kish Bank one. The development of a large windfarm with a smaller visual effect, well out to sea, should take priority over a small one with a larger visual effect. There should be a limit to the visual effect permitted in towns. In 2005 the Codling windfarm obtained…

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Mar 18 2020
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Submission to Consultation Process on Marine Planning & Development Bill with reference to Offshore Renewal Energy, Marine Planning Regime and marine leisure.

Posted by | Community Facilities, Environment & Bray Head, Greystones, Wicklow | No Comments

I made a submission in early January but feel more is needed after the Consultation session in Arklow where I briefly made the following points: Windfarms Visual impact. I represent the Greystones Municipal District and am concerned about the Visual Impact of proposed windfarms from the land. Particularily on large towns that face the sea and place significant emphasis on maintaining an attractive vista from promenades and piers such as Greystones & Bray. These towns have made significant investments in the seafronts and vistas. Also from coastal walks such as…

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Nov 26 2019
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Green Party hypocritical in opposing N11 and Rail improvements in Wicklow

Posted by | Transport, Transport M50/N11, Wicklow | No Comments

Fianna Fail also opposed making development dependent on better transport. The Green Party opposed ‘improving  the South East rail line’ in the Regional Planning Guidelines. I asked the Minister for Environment to override this and he has now altered the wording to ‘improve’ rail. Now the Green leader Eamonn Ryan says he will shelve upgrade plans for the N11. In April 2015 I proposed that Rezoning in Wicklow should not take place unless Public Transport and the N11 had been improved. The Green Party & Fianna Fail voted against that…

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Nov 26 2019
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Green Party proposal to reduce N11 to 1 lane and a bus lane will Paralyse Wicklow

Posted by | Transport, Transport M50/N11, Wicklow | No Comments

The Green Party proposal to cancel the N11 upgrade and convert 1 lane to a Bus Lane will cause total chaos in Wicklow.  Speaking to Eamonn Ryan, Leader of  the Green Party, on East Coast Radio I was surprised to hear that he wants to reduce the car lanes on the already jammed N11. It is essential that the bus lane is EXTRA to the existing 2 lanes South of Kilmacanoge and there must be many Express Buses. North of Kilmacanoge there may well need to be 3 car lanes….

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Sep 25 2019
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Wicklow votes to fund Greenways, Climate Change measures, CCTV projects with 10% LPT rise.

Posted by | Community Facilities, Wicklow | No Comments

The Council voted 21 to 8 to increase the LPT by 10% in 2020. This is the first rise in 5 years and inflation has been 3.2%. The extra money is to fund many projects including: Changing street lights to LED to save energy, Many other Climate Change measures, CCTV scheme in Greystones Each Districts fund to improve Public Areas It will also assist with funding to resurface pitches at Shoreline, Three Trout Stream Greenway to Delgany, Greystones to Wicklow Greenway study, Kilcoole Walks & Newcastle games area which we…

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Aug 01 2019
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Mitchell concerned about lack of Windfarm information

Posted by | Environment & Bray Head, Wicklow | No Comments

Snippets of information appear in the news about windfarms off the Wicklow Coast. I asked the Council to find out the details of various plans and approvals, partly to see if the area could obtain a benefit from this. At the July meeting officials said the Council was not responsible for any offshore permitting and it was quite difficult to find out the status of these. So far as I know in 2005 the Codling Bank scheme obtained a foreshore licence for 220 turbines 15km from the nearest point, Greystones…

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Mar 05 2019
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National Transport Agency outlines plans for Wicklow

Posted by | Bus/Train, Greystones, Wicklow | No Comments

NTA Chief Executive Ann Graham gave a good presentation to the Council meeting on 4th March outlining the problems and the NTAs solutions. On the railway the single line track around Bray Head is a major problem. I wrote a report in February 2018 suggesting partial double tracking as a way of providing 50% more DARTs to Greystones. This was ignored by Irish Rail but the NTA has got international rail experts involved, who will report by the end of March whether this is feasible. Looking forward to report. More trains…

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