A PILOT SCHEME that would see traffic prevented from entering certain residential streets for periods during the day is set to go ahead.
This is being done with the aim of helping neighbours to get to know each other and creating safe areas for children to play in.
The ‘Play Order’ scheme is based on a programme that is already in place and has proven successful in the UK city of Bristol.
‘Generate positive engagement’
The scheme has been championed by Fianna Fáil councillor, Deirdre Heney, who initially put it forward as a motion in April 2013.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, she said, “The reason that I proposed it initially was having canvassed around my constituency and done door-to-door walkabouts for the last number of years, I find that people at one end of a road or street don’t know the people across the road from them or don’t know the elderly resident at the top of the road.”
“I thought, make a couple of hours available in any given day where it is possible for a two-year-old child to go out their scooter and maybe a 75-year-old woman or man at the top of the road might get to know parents of the child and indeed child as well.
I think that can only benefit a community and generate positive engagement among people living on the same road.
How will it work exactly?
It involves traffic being stopped on a street for a period of two hours during the day, creating a time in which people are able to go out onto the street assured of their safety.
During these times volunteer stewards from the street would be in place and residents would be able to gain access with their cars.
The programme would be available on streets where it is unlikely that traffic would be disrupted.
City council officials are currently looking the scheme over and consulting residents on Clancarthy Road, with the hope that a trial will take place in the area in the near future.
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