COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

MOTION NO. 22

MOTION: Councillor W. Lavelle

That this Committee congratulates the Lucan Tidy Towns group on their result in the 2010 National Tidy Towns contest whereby Lucan Village’s overall marks increased from 269 last year to 276 this year and won the Dublin (South) County award.  However while welcoming the improved cleanliness of the Lucan Village area, this Committee again expresses its serious concern over litter problems in the Lucan South area and further to my motion at the April meeting, recommends that a permanent hand-cart service be introduced in the Lucan South area with a primary focus on the areas and roads nearest to the Ballyowen Castle local centre, the Griffeen local centre and Foxborough. This hand-cart service would be of significant benefit in assisting efforts to address the very serious and highly-visible litter problems blighting some of these areas and in particular would be of advantage in allowing for more regular removal of litter from landscaped areas not subject to the regular street-sweeping rota. This Committee therefore requests the Manager to present a detailed report for discussion on how we could progress this proposal with specific reference to the human resources and financial matters involved.

REPORT:

The Environmental Services Department has no plans to introduce a handcart service in the Lucan South area.  The reply given to the motion referred to which was on the April meeting agenda for this committee stated that the provision of an additional hand cart man to service the Lucan South area was not possible at that time due to the lack of funding for such a position and the embargo on recruitment of staff. This position has not changed. 

It should be noted that while there is no daily cleaning service in the areas mentioned, they do still benefit from the same level of service as all similar residential areas in the County with a daily litter bin service from Monday to Friday, monthly sweeping of main roads, quarterly sweeping of housing estates and regular additional clean ups as requested by the litter warden as the need arises.  The Parks Dept carry out further cleaning of open space areas.  The on-site meeting held in April between Council staff and local councillors identified a number of areas which are in need of attention.  In particular the hedge rows and planted areas adjacent to footpaths and open spaces close to the Ballyowen shopping centre were identified as areas where litter gathers and which do not receive regular attention from either cleansing or parks staff.  These planted areas fall outside of the scope of the road sweeping contract.  The contractor has however been asked to provide a costing for removal of litter from these areas on a once off basis.  While this request was made in June the costing is still awaited.  The contractor has been asked once again to examine the matter.