"We've only made things worse": Laois County Council slammed over new school crossings

A Laois County Councillor has slammed the Council for "disastrous" pedestrian crossings that were recently installed near Portlaoise secondary schools Scoil Chríost Rí and St Mary's CBS.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald has hit out at the council for "only making things worse," and has tabled a motion for Laois County Council to review traffic management near the schools.

"There are so many pupils and cars and residents in this area, I don't think this has ever been right from the word go," said Cllr Fitzgerald.

"Every single time we're out doing work here, it's making things worse. There are pedestrian crossings after going in recently, they aren't actually a pedestrian crossing, but one where all of the right of way has been given to the pedestrian.

"There's now a flow of pedestrians crossing, and all of the traffic is backed up completely, it's not moving at all. So we have to give consideration as well to the people who are in the cars, who have to get to work and have to drop children to primary schools too," Cllr Fitzgerald said.

Pictured: Roadworks took place on the Borris road near Scoil Chríost Rí and St Mary's CBS this August.

"It's absolutely disastrous since it opened in September. And part of it is these crossings that are not controlled, and the traffic is so bad. We still have the problem of no protection for cyclists, because the cars are parked up.

"The cars are parked there because they have nowhere else to park. this is on going and on going, unless we try again and look at the schools, are there spaces inside being used? what's happening? All I'm getting is constant complaints, especially from residents who live in the area. They have to be considered in all of this too," Cllr Fitzgerald stressed.

The councillor then said that there were delays of over 15 minutes before traffic continued beyond the pedestrian crossing.

Pictured: Laois County Councillor Catherine Fitzgerald calls for traffic management measures near the schools to be reassessed. 

"Children were just going across, and that's fine, but there has to be some consideration for everyone. so I think it needs to be looked at again because it has never worked.  Whatever we have done, we have done some good things, and some bad things, but the overall thing is that it still doesn't work," Cllr Fitzgerald finished.

This motion was seconded by Cathaoirleach Cllr Willie Aird.

"I want to agree with everything that Cllr Fitzgerald has said, they put bollards out there and people were giving out stink about them," Cllr Aird said.

"There's more traffic out there and people are not going in and I'm very concerned when I hear about this set down parking, its just not working."

The Council saw a recent proposal from Graham Developments to rezone their land beside the school to allow for more housing, and a drop-off and pick-up area next door, in a submission to the Draft Portlaoise Local Area Plan. This proposal was rejected by the Council.

Pictured: The field proposed for a drop-off pick-up zone for the schools.

"It's probably working the best in Holy Family than any other school, because they do drive in and around, but there is parking in there as well. But there's nobody driving on because of the delay getting in and out," said Cllr Aird.

"They're all parking outside. Parents are in a hurry too, they're trying to gets kids to school. I don't have the answer, but every time we seem to do something, there are more people giving out to us that its getting worse instead of better," Cllr Aird finished.

Mr James Dowling, Senior Executive Engineer with Laois County Council, replied that Laois County Council's Road Design Department will reassess the traffic arrangements at Scoil Chriost Rí.

This matter took place at the October sitting of Laois County Council's Portlaoise Municipal District.