Officials this week are to brief Dublin City Councils Mobility and Public Realm committee generally on how national guidelines outline that active travel trials no longer should have public consultation before the trials start, and instead, public consultation is to be run as part of the trial.This is according to documents provided to committee members and published online. Another separate document in the agenda pack for the meeting shows that the Strand Road trial has been allocecated 250,000 in funding for 2026.Its unclear when councillors will be briefed on the Strand Road trial, and questions put to the councils press office since the funding was allocated have gone unanswered. The Strand Road trial was first proposed in 2020 before a group of residents, and Cllr Mannix Flynn blocked it with legal action. The High Court ruled against the council in 2021, but the Court of Appeal overturned that decision last year.The plan included making Stand Road one-way and then installing a two-way cycle path using one of the current traffic lanes. Less reported on it also includes continuing the trial route out of the Merrion Gates, and along the Merrion Road. There, the two-way path would then run to the county border and link with the DLRCCs Coastal Mobility Route, which runs from the Rock Road to Sandycove. While the council were criticised for procurement shortfalls, the Court overturned all the substantive points on which the High Court had ruled against the council. The Court of Appeal concluded that the High Court judgment was wrong in ruling that planning permission was required, and was wrong that a full environmental EIA screening was required. The appeal court ruled both were not required. The Court ruled that the case was not moot because the city council plans to proceed with the scheme in the future, so the outcome of the case was concrete and not abstract.The Court of Appeal criticised the national government for the lack of guidelines for Section 38 of the Road Traffic Acts, although guidelines have since been put in place. The section of the guidelines dealing with trials is the one to which councillors and other committee members are to be briefed on. In documents on the briefing planned for this weeks meeting, Claire French, a senior engineer in the councils transport section, outlined the details of trail to be undertaken under Section 3French said: The Guidelines clearly set out the steps for implementing a trial. The key differences in the process compared to permanent Section 38 measures is that there is no consultation prior to the start of the trial, 14 days notice is required before a trial commences, and consultation on the trial measures is held throughout the trial once it has commenced. Within the final three months of the trial date a report is prepared assessing the trial which provides a recommendation on whether to make the measures permanent, modify on a permanent basis, not implement on a permanent basis or consider [an] alternative trial scheme for implementation, she wrote in a report to the committee. She added: A determination on the future arrangements, which is an Executive decision, having regard to the recommendation of the report will then be made and the determination published on the local authoritys website.French said that guidelines outline the procedure that must be followed for a trial.The national guidelines outline: The core rationale for a trial is to allow particular proposals to be implemented on a temporary basis, for a defined period of time, allowing the impacts of the proposal to be monitored. This then informs a subsequent decision on whether the proposals should or should not be implemented on a permanent basis. Accordingly, instead of seeking public feedback on draft proposals in the usual manner, the consultation process should be focused on obtaining feedback on the trial scheme in operation.The guidelines outline procedural steps that must be followed prior to, during, and upon completion of a trial.This includes how a notice should be published 14 days prior to the commencement of a trial and how local councillors should also be informed.The guidelines outline: Where the above process for the implementation of trial schemes requires notification to the elected members of the Council, such notification may be to the full Council, the members of the Strategic Policy Committee of the Council dealing with transport matters, the elected members of a Municipal District or to the elected members of a local electoral area.MORE:Breafing to Committee: Guidelines & Procedures under Section 38 of the Road Traffic Act (1994) Trials ProcedureNational guidelines:Guidelines and circulars covering standards for roads, greenways and active travelDOWNLOAD:Guidelines on Traffic Works Procedures covering Section 38 of the Road Traffic Act (1994)