Dublin City Council should revise its out-of-date action plan for the Richmond Road area, councillors have said, with local councillors describing it as dangerous for both people in wheelchairs and people cycling on the road.Much of the new residential development is planned with the concept of more people cycling, but the council does not expect to provide a safe route on the road until sometime after 2030. This is in the context of more and more apartment blocks being built along the road, and the Land Development Agency just breaking ground on a new, near-800-unit housing development at the former St. Vincents Hospital (SVH) in Fairview, which has its main access into Richmond Road. The issues with danger from rat-running traffic on the narrow road have led to residents protesting the councils inaction. At their last monthly local area meeting, North Central Area Committee councillors agreed to a motion to draft a new Area Action Plan in consultation with the local community, recognising the current and planned mix of uses in the area, and to improve the safety and accessibility of the area, which runs along both sides of the River Tolka from Drumcondra to Ballybough/Fairview.The existing plan was published in 2007, and councillors pointed out that the area has changed since then and new policies are now in place, such as the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets.Cllr Karl Stanley (Socs Dems) said that the council should go beyond just looking at traffic in the area and consider placemaking, riverfront activation, and the use of bridge connections to Clonliffe Road. He said that the area was previously mixed, but it is now increasingly residential, with a growing population. Over a thousand new residential units have gone in or are going in the next couple of years bearing in mind, the 2007 plan talked about the population being about 5 000, when the population of the area will be at least 50% higher in the next year or two, he said. Cllr Stanley said a new plan for the area would give residents some hope, outlining how, currently, theres a bit of almost despair as residents feel theres no plan for their growing area. A plan could show that the city has a vision for the area, he said.Cllr Clodagh N Mhuir (Fine Gael) said its a great place to live and has a huge amount of potential, but that councillors wanted to make sure there is a long-term plan in place to improve the defects in the area.We need to start planning ahead now, so thats when we have people moving in on the new site [for housing that the council has just commissioned], were not looking back at this 5 or 10 years down the road and saying we should have done this or this, she said. Cllr N Mhuir added: It would be good to have a coherent plan and vision for the area.Cllr Donna Cooney (Green Party) said: Were leaving an active travel route until post-2028. We dont even have any preliminary designs or anything else. And yet, this new development of up to 800 units, with possibly more than 2,000 people living there, children included, will be expected to cycle. Thats the way this has been developed around the fact that there are thousands of bicycle parking spaces.Active travel is a main component of that plan, and yet, were not putting in an active travel route along there and that just seems ludicrous, she said. Why cant we join up the dots so that children can get to their schools from there safely?She added: Im a very experienced cyclist, and I feel nervous on that road cycling. it just does not feel like a safe road cycling. Its really not safe. Cllr Deirdre Heney (Fianna Fil) said that there needs to be a high-level meeting between the councillors, council departments and state bodies involved. Cllr Alison Field (Labour Party) said: shed been up Richmond Road twice in the past 24 hours, and while she always knew it was a complete mess, her experience with her son in a wheelchair was dangerous because of the narrowness and poor state of the footpaths. Yesterday, I took my son in a wheelchair up that road, and I am telling you, its not wheelchair-friendly one bit. The dishing [where footpaths meet roads and entrances], was actually dangerous at certain points I could barely fit the wheelchair on the tiny little path. Its a complete mess, and then therell be more people living there, she said. Cllr Field added: So we really are gonna have to sit down and put a proper plan into place around that area, its a complete mess.You can watch the full discussion at the April meeting of the North Central Area Committee, which starts around 19 minutes into the recording.ALSO READ:Marino and Richmond Rd/Grace Park Rd areas need to come together to cut rat running