COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE 2

Monday, October 01, 2007

MOTION NO. 6

MOTION: Councillor M. Murphy

"That this Committee calls on the Manager to acquire the ESSO site in Tallaght Village by CPO or other means. Once acquired a Part 8 be drawn up which includes under-ground public car parking, a small square and an information/tourism office."

REPORT:

As previously outlined in the headed item on the Esso site presented to the Tallaght Area Committee meeting in February 2007, there are two means of acquiring any site, either by agreement or alternatively by Compulsory Purchase Order.

Following the request from the Tallaght Area Committee, the Council’s management has met with the contractual owner of the site and following that meeting the Council’s Valuer had discussions with the Valuer acting for the contractual owner.

The valuation put on the site of 0.55 acres (0.22 hectares) having regard to its previous commercial use and its potential development is significantly in excess of €6m. As such an amount would not present value for money for the Council, accordingly a decision was made not to pursue its acquisition.

If land cannot be purchased by agreement, the other means of acquiring the site would be by using the Compulsory Purchase procedure. However to invoke the CPO procedure, the Council would be required to define thepurpose for which the site was being acquired. The Council have no policy document that would indicate why the land should be acquired for amenity purposes, see below.

The Esso lands are subject to zoning objective CT namely ‘to project, improve and provide for the future development of the County Town of Tallaght’ in the County Development Plan 2004-2010. There are no Specific Local Objectives in the County Development Plan that relate to the site.

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In the Tallaght Town Centre Local Area Plan, 2006, the assigned Future Land Use is for mixed use development, with up to 100% residential (Mixed Use C). The maximum building height threshold is four stories and maximum plot ratio threshold is 1:5:1 at this location. There are no objectives in relation to the provision of an information/tourism office on the Esso site in the adopted Local Area Plan.

However, South Dublin County Council are at present pursuing an alternative plan for an information office in Tallaght Town Centre in the new Public Information Centre to be located in the newly completed Tallaght Cross development, adjacent to the Luas terminal. The Centre will be an interactive exhibition facility that seeks to inform, educate and entertain. Using the most up to date technology, the centre will communicate the overall vision driving the development of South Dublin. It will display and explain a wide range of plans, projects and social initiatives across the County, through use of maps, models, displays and interactive media.

Note: There is a current planning application pertaining to this site, Reg. Ref. SD07A/0569 for theConstruction of a mixed retail / residential developments of 32 no. apartments and 654 sq.m retail on 4 floors over basement car park. It is understood that this application is now subject to appeal to An Bord Pleanala.

A previous application Reg. Ref. SD06A/1125 was refused for the construction of a mixed retail/residential development of 39 no. apartments and 676sq.metres retail on 4 floors over basement car park for a number of reasons including overdevelopment of the site, materially contravening the objectives of the Tallaght Town Centre Local Area Plan and materially affecting the character of the existing historic village of Tallaght and the adjoining Architectural Conservation Area.