COUNCIL officials are prepared to “tweak” the controversial new Traffic Management Plan in Waterford City if the need arises.
The new plan, which came into effect on Monday July 17th, has caused “uproar” according to Cllr Joe Kelly (Ind).
At the July Metropolitan District meeting of Waterford City & County Council held on Monday of last week, Cllr Kelly highlighted that a petition containing the signatures of around 3,000 people had been presented to the Council earlier that day.
In light of having received the petition, Cllr Kelly asked about the Council’s position on the traffic management plan.
He also pointed out that he had previously sought to bring forward a motion calling for the plan to be suspended pending discussions with residents who had claimed there hadn’t been sufficient consultation.
Cllr Kelly said the motion wasn’t allowed and he was informed that the issue wasn’t up for discussion as it was “a management decision”.
He asked that the Council either suspend the plan for a couple of weeks or come up with some traffic calming measures which may satisfy people.
“Some residents want the whole plan scrapped, but we might be able to tweak it to make it more acceptable,” he said.
Director of Economic Development, and Deputy CEO, Lar Power said it was “incumbent” on the Council to make the plan work, adding that the Council would “tweak” the plan if needs be.
“We have no intention of having anything that’s not working properly,” he said.
He said Director of Services Fergus Galvin had committed to meeting representatives of the Inner City Residents Association and acknowledged that people have some concerns.
“Our intention is to make this work,” said Mr Power.
“If there is a problem with something we have done, we won’t be long about rectifying it.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Breda Brennan (SF) highlighted that safety issues are the primary concern of residents in the affected areas, especially Barrack Street.
She said there are many elderly residents living in the area.
“Even if it would be possible to put a pedestrian crossing in place, that would alleviate some of their concerns,” she said.