‘We don’t want it’: Cork residents object to cycle lane works

Northside residents objecting to the removal of parking spaces and trees for the construction of a cycleway have said they would rather no road improvement works be carried out than the current proposals.

The €7m Knockpogue Knockfree Avenue active travel scheme was unanimously approved by Cork City Council in April 2023.

The scheme was billed by the council as designed to enhance pedestrian and cycling infrastructure along 1.4km of road between Gurranabraher and Farranree.

The scheme proposed to connect facilities and residential areas with continuous pedestrian facilities comprising footpaths, crossings, cycle infrastructure, public lighting, and traffic calming measures.

Some locals have now objected to the removal of parking spaces and trees.

Willie McCarthy, chairman of the Cork County Basketball board, said the removal of parking spaces outside the Gurranabraher parochial hall was “unacceptable and deeply damaging to the basketball community in Cork”.

Sharon Hussey, spokesperson for a group of residents, spoke to The Echo while protesting with a dozen people.

Site works were being carried out behind safety barriers by workers for Sorensen, who were accompanied by three security guards. There was considerable good-humoured banter between the workers and the protesters.

Asked what a win for her group would look like, Ms Hussey replied: “No cycle lane”.

“The cycle lane is removing all the car spaces from this roundabout the whole way across, it’s removing the trees... it’s the only reason why everything is being done, it’s for the bike lane and we don’t want it,” she said.

When it was put to Ms Hussey that funding for all of the other works in the active travel scheme was contingent on the building of cycleways, she said locals would rather do without the works.

Ms Hussey rejected claims by the council that some site works had been interfered with, necessitating the appointment of security guards.

A Garda spokesperson said there had been “a number of reports of alleged incidents in the Knockfree Avenue area”.

Ms Hussey said protesters had stood in front of work vehicles “in order to not allow the work to begin”. She said: “That’s what a protest is, and that’s what we are doing, we are stopping the work from happening.”

Sorensen was asked for comment.