Installing dual-language signs in Kildare estates 'considerable undertaking'
LOCAL councillors recently sought further works to ensure that bilingual signage is implemented in residential areas.
At the most recent full meeting of Kildare County Council, cllrs Donna Phelan, Anne Breen and Noel Connolly brough forward a motion on the meeting agenda requesting the council "reaffirms and enforces full compliance with the 'Naming of Residential Developments Policy 2018', requiring all new residential developments and all estates seeking to be taken in charge to have permanent, fully compliant dual-language Irish and English signage in place before planning completion or taking in charge and to carry out an audit of estates already taken in charge where retrospective compliance with the policy could be undertaken”.
The motion also asked that the council executive “determine a costing for works to relevant estates/ developments already taken in charge (and legacy estates) to be determined and that a funding source be identified”.
In keeping with the spirit of what the councillors were asking for, there also an Irish-language version of the motion available to read on the meeting agenda.
With cllrs Phelan, Breen and Connolly being affiliated with Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party and Sinn Féin, it was clear that there was broad support for the move.
A report issued in response to the motion by director of services for planning, economic development, enterprise and tourism in KCC Alan Dunney and director of services for transport, mobility and open spaces Mark McLoughlin, outlined the following: “Naming and numbering is a standard condition attached to grants of planning permission for multi-unit residential developments. Developers are required to submit proposed names (Irish and English) for written approval by the council, and to install permanent, compliant signage before completion of the development.”
The report further went on to say that estates cannot be taken in charge by the council unless all planning conditions are fully met. These conditions include correct bilingual signage installed in accordance with the aforementioned with the council's 2018 'Naming of New Residential Developments' policy.
The report added that “the council will continue to enforce these conditions and internal procedures to ensure uniform application of the 2018 Policy across all developments.”
The report further detailed the scale of the project and the challenges involved.
“There are in excess of 600 residential developments taken in charge and an assessment of the scope and scale of the project will be a considerable undertaking as evident from the transport department’s experience in procuring statutory signs for residential developments as part of the implementation of Jake’s Law.”
Jake’s law aims to make residential areas safer by introducing speed limits of 30km/h. It is named after Jake Brennan, a six-year-old boy who died tragically after being hit by a car on the street in Kilkenny where he lived.
The report continued on to outline the scale of the project involving the retrofitting of dual language signage in residential developments, saying that it “would require careful evaluation, considering the lack of uniformity of signage, the volume of bespoke stone signs and the extensive scope of such a project which would be well outside the scope of normal operations of the transport department.”
