The Royal Canal Greenway is a wonderful opportunity to provide a best-practice biodiversity-friendly active travel network as a vital addition to Dublin City.
Shandon Residents Association in Phibsboro looks forward to facilitating the works wherever possible. The members of the association are situated right alongside the Royal Canal’s southern bank at Phibsboro and includes over 300 houses plus the residents of Coke Oven Cottages on the northern bank. The residents association has a long history dating back to the early 1930s, when many of the homes were originally built. The neighbourhood is privileged to have the Royal Canal on its doorstep and it is a much-loved local amenity.
The Dublin Royal Canal Greenway Phase 4 — Crossguns to Ashtown 4.2km plans currently create some serious concerns.
Historic contamination and canal narrowing
The Royal Canal channel across from Coke Oven Cottages and near Shandon Gardens contains historic creosote contamination. Indeed, the Royal Canal Phase 4 Greenway’s report maps the heaviest concentrations at this point. This is one of the three separate locations marked for the canal channel to be narrowed by up to 2.4m. This will include draining and dredging. There is clearly a need for a serious published public risk assessment of these works as the Greenway’s report says this will be the responsibility of an — as of yet — unnamed contractor. This process clearly creates a very high risk of danger to local residents, flora, fauna and the potential for eventually contaminating the Unesco biosphere and SAC areas of Dublin Bay downstream and everything in between.
Public realm
There is no cost available for the project. Phase 3 is currently under construction and is costing €30.85m for 2.1km. Those works don’t involve canal narrowing or contaminant removal so what will Phase 4 cost? There are also no plans to take this important opportunity to create a protective public realm margin at the Industrial Estate sections where the canal will be narrowed to create a wider roadway. As a result, this can easily allow for any future developments on private land to come right up to the new greenway edge. There are also no plans to eliminate pinch points — including Crossguns at Lock 5 and under the Irish Rail bridge by Lock 7. It appears that one of the outcomes will be an inevitable increased speed to greenway escooter/ebike/cyclist traffic on the widened sections that will hit sudden bottlenecks where pedestrians and other modes of transport will run the risk of collisions. There are also no plans to increase permeability. The canal route between Crossguns and Broombridge will be well over 2km before being able to exit or enter. The widening of the current towpath and removal of ramps is intended to make this safer but it is difficult to see this as an outcome with the increased speed of ebikes, escooters and other traffic. The existing ramps were originally put in to slow or prevent scramblers and motorbikes which challenge space for pedestrians using the current towpath..
Habitat fragmentation and biodiversity
The current biodiversity of this urban section of the Royal Canal amazingly supports many species with strict protections under EU and Irish law. These include Otter, Bats, Lamprey and European Eel and also endangered molluscs like Glutinous Water Snails and rare aquatic Tollypella/Stoneworts plant life. The new Greenway plans include permanent removal of part of this habitat. The canal narrowing process has required an otter derogation licence which obviously demonstrates that it will have a negative impact on these animals. Derogation licences can only be given as a last resort and the original approved greenway plans didn’t require this licence; it shows there is obviously an alternative. DCC’s own Biodiversity Action Plan states green/blue infrastructure should be planned to protect and enhance biodiversity. There is a risk to habitat fragmentation from the removal of mature hedgerow and dangers to the local light-sensitive Daubenton’s Bat population if the new proposed lighting scheme is miscalculated. Only 1 per cent of Dublin is freshwater habitat (according to DCC’s Biodiversity Action Plan) so it has never been more urgent to protect what is left. DCC declared a biodiversity crisis in 2019 so it’s deeply concerning that a more nuanced approach to greenway construction doesn’t appear to have been considered.
Shandon Residents Association urges Dublin City Council to reconsider some of the more extreme edges of the plans and adjust the application to help create a best-practice multi-modal travel network that can both future-proof for environmental challenges and enhance the local area as well. As the Royal Canal is a proposed Natural Heritage Area and provides key habitats, it requires strict protections and climate action plans shouldn’t need to override this important consideration.
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Shandon Residents Association 