Residents group pushes for more permanent pedestrianisation of part of Sandymount Green

On a quiet Wednesday afternoon, five children ran around the edge of the Sandymount Green, playing tag, while a pair of mothers looked on from a park bench.

The north-eastern side of this triangular park in the heart of the coastal village is lined with businesses, including a pharmacy, bakery, barbers, pub and restaurants.

It’s a stretch of road that, since 2021 has been pedestrianised during the weekends, in the summer months. 

But David Turner, chairperson of the Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association (SAMRA), is hoping that Dublin City Council might do more. 

“If pedestrianisation was done on a more permanent basis, there would be a lot to invest in from the shops’ perspectives,” he said.

The north-eastern side of the green needs to be improved, he said. “You’ve a lot of trip hazards, uneven pavements, street furniture, pedestrian lights,” Turner said. “If you stripped out all of that, it’s amazing what could be done.” 

SAMRA is working with an architectural firm to draw up a proposal for permanently pedestrianising this part of the green. It’s early days, Turner says, and any of these ideas will need to be fleshed out in a local public consultation.

Local councillors remain sceptical about whether the north-east side of the green could be permanently pedestrianised anytime soon. A council spokesperson didn’t directly respond to a query asking whether the council was considering this.

Part-time pedestrianisation

Sandymount Green’s north-eastern side was first tested as a pedestrian street back during the winter of 2018, says former Fine Gael Councillor Paddy Smyth. 

“It was for the tree lighting ceremony just before Christmas, and they had cordoned off the road for logistics,” he said.

It seemed like a pity that it wouldn’t be closed off more than once, he says. “So, that February, I put in a motion to the council saying this was a great success. Wouldn’t it be possible to do this during the summertime over the weekends.”

When Covid hit, it put some momentum behind the idea, he says.

That temporary pedestrianisation was implemented from 3 July until 31 August 2021 to support outdoor dining, says Fine Gael Councillor James Geoghegan. “Then after the pandemic ended, there was a big local demand to retain some elements of that.”

In a council survey following the initial trial, 78 percent of 643 respondents said it improved their experience of the street. Only 17 percent said it made their experience worse.

Local businesses carried out their own survey, and of the 23 responses to the possibility of permanently pedestrianising the east side of the Green, 20 were opposed to the idea.

But every summer since then, that part of the green has been pedestrianised for the weekends, from May until October, Geoghegan says. 

Turner, speaking on Wednesday evening, said that a survey carried out during the first two weeks of April had found overwhelming support for this. 

Of 262 respondents, 94 percent said they wanted to see the north-eastern side of Sandymount pedestrianised, be it permanently or just during the summer months, he said. “The groundswell of opinion is increasing.”

Last year, SAMRA applied for a grant from the council’s Dublin Waste to Energy Community Gain Fund, says Geoghegan, the Fine Gael councillor.

The committee approved a grant of €41,820 for SAMRA to engage with an architect about creating a plan for the village, Geoghegan says.

SAMRA has been working with Grafton Architects to improve the village, says Turner. “In particular, they’re looking at how to improve the village green area and how it could be enhanced without causing disruption.”

One of the first items to emerge from this collaboration is a look at how the green’s north-eastern end could be permanently pedestrianised, he says. “But what we need to do is complete the work with the architects and the next phase is actually to go into public engagement.”

View from the street

While the sky was clouded and grey, Sandymount was pleasantly warm on Thursday evening.

Inside the Green, a spritely sheepdog bounded across the grass to fetch a tennis ball and a young man rigorously exercised on the park’s path, arching his body in the downward dog yoga position and rocking back and forth as he bounced the palms of his hands against the hard surface.

Some children chased each other about, and an elderly couple took a stroll around the perimeter.

It’s nice when all of that activity can spread out onto the pedestrianised north-eastern street in the summer, said one local, Caitriona McAuley, as she was bringing her own small dog home for a walk. “It’s much safer and you’ll see more kids out on their bikes.”

McAuley hadn’t heard about the survey going around. But her feeling was that any decision around pedestrianising the streets around the Green would need to be steered by the local traders, she says. 

“I don’t know what the businesses’d say about it,” she says.

Rod McDonagh, manager of Ryan’s Sandymount House, the pub at the corner of Sandymount Green and Seafort Avenue, says pedestrianisation during the summer weekends has been extremely positive.

“It’s only been good for business,” he says as he steps out from behind the bar, walking over to the exit.

It never impacted deliveries, because there isn’t much room for parking on Sandymount Green anyway, he says, before pointing to Seafort Avenue. “All our trucks pull up around the corner over there.”

And there is plenty of room for traders to get deliveries during the first half of the week, he says. “Those can be done anytime between Thursday to Sunday.”

But permanent pedestrianisation is something he hasn’t considered, he says. “I’m not sure how that would work.”

Smyth, the former councillor, says he would be strongly in favour of the street being pedestrianised all year round. “Some local residents and businesses are against it, because they believe they would lose some of the car parking spaces there.”

But, he says, there’s generally an increase in footfall when cars are removed. “It was the same argument with Grafton Street, but if you asked any business down there if they want to reverse it, my guess is you wouldn’t get much support.”

Incremental steps

Realistically, there isn’t any prospect of permanently pedestrianising the north-eastern side of Sandymount Green in the short-term, says Geoghegan, the Fine Gael councillor.

“It simply wouldn’t work, but what you can do is improve the urban environment around it, that would facilitate the weekend pedestrianisation taking place,” he said.

What could work better is focusing on how to improve the flow of traffic around the green to ensure it is more pedestrian friendly, he says. “There are still roads around there without pedestrian crossings.”

While there is a large amount of support for permanent pedestrianisation from locals, there isn’t universal agreement, especially among people living close to the green, says Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey. 

“They’re happy for the Friday to Sunday to continue,” he says.

The next step, Lacey says, might be to expand to the full Friday, rather than commence in the evening time. “But I don’t think the street would be used, like it is on weekends, in the same way during the week.”

Dublin City Council did not comment on whether or not it is considering a permanent pedestrianisation of the green.

Its spokesperson said the South East Area Office held a “productive discussion” on Thursday with local stakeholders regarding the proposals to pedestrianise the green for the forthcoming summer.