COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
MOTION NO. 5
MOTION: Councillor D. Keating
That this Committee would agree, given the commitment made by South Dublin County Council to have the Liffey Valley lands, including at St. Edmundsbury, Woodville and Fonthill, preserved against housing development following the passing of my Motions, including at the June 2008 Planning Department Meeting: "That this Committee requests the Manager to write to the Minister for the Environment and Local Government requesting the Minister to make a Ministerial Order, under Section 202 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, to make further Special Amenity Area Order(s) to preserve the Liffey Valley Lands in South Dublin, including at St. Edmundsbury and Woodville. Particularly in view of the unanimous decision of South Dublin County Council expressed in my Motion passed in South Dublin County Council on 10th March 2008, including “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”, in the interest of the preservation of these lands, and given subsequent Motions passed that prompted further correspondence between the Council and the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, to initiate the process of extending the Special Amenity Area Order given the obvious reluctance by the Minister to exercise his powers in extending the Special Amenity Area Order(s), especially given the pre-general election promise by the Green Party in 2007 to extend the SAAO to these lands, and particularly given the Minister's silence on this matter in advance of the review of the County Development Plan - the time-scale that I had identified in my Motion to this Council on 9th June 2008.
REPORT:
In September 2008 the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government requested that an evaluation be carried out of the lands between Palmerstown and Lucan Bridge, between the the existing area of Special Amenity and N4/Old Lucan Road/Old Hill Road, to assess the suitability of some or all of these lands being designated a new area of special amenity, having regard to the provisions of Section 202 of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
In March 2009, an Evaluation Report was submitted by the Manager to the Department of the Environment, as requested. A response has yet to be received.
It is apparent that Section 202 of the 2000 Act makes provision for an extension to an SAAO only where an order for an SAAO was previously made under Section 202 of the 2000 Act. It therefore appears that procedurally, it would be necessary to proposed a new SAAO, either in addition to or in lieu of that already existing.
A response from the Minister to the Manager's submission of March 2009 was formally requested further to this matter being raised at the September 2010 Lucan-Clondalkin Area Committee meeting.
To progress the matter, it is now proposed to arrange an informal briefing for local elected members on the issues involved in initiating Section 202 of the Planning and Development Act, within the coming weeks.