975 submissions made as ‘Save St Catherine’s Park’ campaign gathers pace

By Echo Reporter

ON MONDAY, the Save St Catherine’s Park campaign in Lucan arrived at Kildare County Council to present 975 submissions on the Leixlip Local Area Plan.

The submissions call for no road through St Catherine’s Park. The Save St Catherine’s Park campaign claim a road is planned to go through the park.

They want the masterplan dropped from the Leixlip Local Area Plan in order to protect St Catherine’s Park.

Valerie Colton, Chair of the Campaign told The Echo: “Just under 1,000 people have written these Submissions calling for a road through the park to be dropped – with many more sent online.

“People are realising that the Confey plan for thousands of houses can’t work without a road to the motorway. The only option laid out is shown going through our park.

“Transport consultants have proposed a road from Confey to link up with the proposed Fingal road to the M4 through St Catherine’s Park.

“The Campaign are telling the councillors that people from a wide area of Kildare, Fingal and South County Dublin just won’t accept any of it – and neither should they.”

Campaign Secretary, Ann Field, told The Echo: “Fingal planners tell me that the road shown on their map going from Ongar to the M4 at the Leixlip Interchange, going directly through St Catherine’s Park, is only ‘indicative’ and nothing is decided.

“But that’s not true. They’ve already got Fingal councillors to vote for it – without showing these councillors the park on their planning map which omitted the outline of the park.

I feel this was deceptive. No residents were consulted or shown this planning map either”.