COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, March 10, 2008
HEADED ITEM NO. 2(e)
Report of the Lucan/Clondalkin Area Committee (1) - 20th February 2008
The Lucan Clondalkin meeting passed the following motions and unanimously recommended its adoption to the Council.
MOTION: Councillor D. Keating
That this Committee supports the concept of a Liffey Valley Park as proposed originally by Lucan Planning Council and in more recent years by Liffey Valley Park Alliance and which is also widely supported by the local Community, including all Local Residents Associations. In addition that this Committee acknowledges the historical significance of the Liffey Valley, and recognises not only the local and regional value of a Liffey Valley Park, but also its national and indeed international future potential. In such circumstances it is wholly undesirable that any future housing developments take place in the Liffey Valley, including at St. Edmundsbury and Woodville, that would undoubtedly further damage the Liffey Valley Park as did, for example, the earlier housing developments at Laraghcon.
REPORT:
Development Plan
The establishment and development of a Liffey Valley Park is an objective of the Council as set out in Policy LHA 5 of the County Development Plan 2004-2010, which seeks to “secure, as an amenity of national significance, the preservation of the Liffey Valley and its landscapes and to seek to have the lands brought into public ownership for the purpose of designation as a National Park”. This policy is supported by Policy LHA 17 which seeks to “preserve the major natural amenities of the County (i.e. Dublin Mountains and River Valleys) and to provide parks and open spaces in association with them”. It is an objective of the Council to “preserve all areas within the Liffey Valley from major housing developments” (Objective 9.4.3.iii). It is also the policy of the Council “to promote and encourage the provision of social and affordable housing in accordance with the proposals outlined in the Council’s Housing Strategy” (Policy H 11).
Towards a Liffey Valley Park
The study “Towards a Liffey Valley Park” prepared under the direction of the OPW envisages opportunities for some development along the corridor of the Liffey while at the same time bringing parts of the valley into public ownership. The OPW Study states that “opportunities are to be taken, throughout the length of the Liffey Valley to secure water front lands for recreational purposes in the interest of preserving and enhancing the river environments” and that “it is important to acknowledge that the local authorities will have to liaise with property owners along the Liffey Valley and that development can provide a means of acquiring further land in public ownership”.
In South Dublin County substantial progress has been, and continues to be, made in the establishment and development of a Liffey Valley Park through the acquisition of lands along the river. These include lands at Palmerstown, with the acquisition of lands at Riversdale House and Stewarts Hospital, and at Hermitage in connection with the development of the new private hospital at Fonthill.
The challenge for the Council now is to explore the possibility of bringing further lands into public ownership and creating a further section of the Liffey Valley Park to which the public can have access and which can provide passive and active recreational amenity.
A Motion agreed at the County Council Meeting of 10th December, 2007 requested the Manager to write to the OPW regarding the establishment of the Strategy Steering Group to implement the recommendation of “Towards a Liffey Valley Park”. The Minister of State at the OPW, Noel Ahern TD was written to by the Council. In reply, the OPW stated in a letter dated 23rd January that “the implementation of steps to bring the Park into existence are a matter for the local authorities concerned and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government” (Correspondence Item No. 4, Meeting of County Council 11th February 2008).
Affordable Homes Partnership (AHP) Recommendation
The Affordable Homes Partnership (AHP) recommended to the Council that it should initiate a Variation of the Development Plan 2004-2010 in relation to lands at St. Edmondsbury and Woodville, Lucan. The recommendation by the AHP was made on foot of a proposal to the AHP by Ballymore, the owners of the lands.
The Variation would involve:--
a) re-zoning lands comprising of some 99 acres from zoning objective “G” – ‘To protect and improve High Amenity Areas’, to zoning objective “A1”– ‘To provide for new Residential Communities in accordance with Approved Area Plans’, and
b) inserting a Specific Local Objective on the subject lands to provide that in any residential development 70% of the residential units (up to 10% of which may be social housing if so determined by the planning authority) shall be for affordable housing purposes as agreed in a covenant with the Affordable Homes Partnership.
The proposal includes the provision of 1,600 residential units, a school site, a neighbourhood centre, a local centre, a crèche. It is also proposed that 70% of the 1,600 housing units would be ‘affordable’ including 10% ‘social’ (100 sheltered housing units) as defined in Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), and 30% open market housing.
In addition to providing affordable homes on the lands the landowners propose to transfer 184 acres of land to the Council. This would include all of the land in their holding at St. Edmondsbury that lies within the Liffey Valley (Lucan Bridge to Palmerstown) Special Amenity Area Order 1990 (SAAO) area.
An opportunity exists under the proposal to acquire a substantial area of riverside land at Lucan, in return for facilitating a residential development on a portion of the Ballymore lands, the major part of which will be available for purchase as affordable housing. Having regard to the extensive capital programme of public and recreational facilities already determined by the Council in terms of priorities, there is no likelihood of the Council being in a position to purchase the land for the foreseeable future. There is no proposal by the State to acquire the lands. In these circumstances it is advisable that the opportunity to bring the greater part of this land into public ownership at no cost to the Council be explored fully.
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
Article 13K of the Planning and Development (Strategic Environmental Assessment) Regulations 2004 (S.I No. 436 of 2004), requires that where a planning authority proposes to make a variation of a development plan under Section 13 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), it shall, before giving notice of the variation, consider whether or not the proposed variation would be likely to have significant effects on the environment.
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a systematic process of predicting and evaluating the likely significant environmental effects of implementing a proposed policy, plan or programme, in order to ensure that these effects are appropriately addressed at the earliest appropriate stage of decision-making, on a par with economic and social considerations.
Screening of the recommended Variation indicated that it could have likely significant effects on the environment. The screening exercise concluded that an Environmental Report should be prepared as it was considered that the recommended Variation could have likely significant effects on the environment. Accordingly consultants were requested to prepare a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Environmental Report on behalf of the Council.
The Environmental Report has indicated that in order to have no adverse effects on the lands the 99 acres in full recommended for re-zoning by the AHP should not be considered for development. However it also indicated that development on an area of approximately half that which had been recommended, some 48 acres, would cause minimal effects on the environment – the SAAO, the Liffey, protected structures etc. A set of mitigation measures designed to prevent, reduce and offset as fully as possible any minimal effects on the environment is also proposed. Given this it has been necessary to refer the matter back to the AHP, to whom the application was originally made by the landowners, to ascertain if the owners wished to abandon the application to the AHP or revise their proposal. It is understood that the AHP has reverted back to the landowners and a response is awaited by the Council.
Recommendation:
It is recommended that the Motion not be adopted, pending further consideration of the AHP recommendation, the SEA Environmental Report, any matters that may arise from the Environmental Report, public advertisement and display, the receipt of submissions and observations and the consideration of these in a Manager’s Report to the Elected Council.
Report to County Council Meeting – March 2008
It should be noted
(1) That the AHP recommendation to initiate a variation of the County Development Plan has been referred back in the context of the Strategic Environment Report,
(2) The view expressed by the OPW in its letter to the Council on 23rd January 2008 “that the implementation of steps to bring the park into existence are a matter for the local authorities concerned and the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government”.
(3) There is no likelihood of the Council being in a position to purchase the land for the foreseeable future.
4) That there is the possibility of a very substantial acreage of land at St. Edmondsbury and Woodville in the Liffey Valley, including all of the lands included in the Special Area Amenity Order together with additional open space lands being transferred, free of charge, to the Council as part of the application submitted to the Affordable Homes Partnership.
Therefore, it is recommended that the motion be not passed pending a response from the AHP, when the matter will come before the Council formally.
Note for members on membership of Affordable Homes Partnership (AHP)
The South Dublin County Manager, Joe Horan is a member of the Affordable Homes Partnership and as such he has withdrawn from all discussions and decisions taken by the AHP in relation to any site located within this county. Similarly, on foot of his membership of AHP, the County Manager will not engage or make any contribution to any discussion that may arise at this meeting in relation to this item.