COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

MOTION NO. 11

MOTION: Councillor E. Tuffy

Cathaoirleach's Business

That the Lucan Area Committee congratulates the staff of the Parks Department for their work, in collaboration with the Dublin Mountains Partnership, Coillte, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown CC and Dublin City Council, on the Dublin Mountains Way Project, and requests the Manager to ask the Parks Department to investigate those aspects of that project, particularly the work with user groups, which could be used in a project to increase public access to and enjoyment  of the lands in the Liffey Valley.  

REPORT:

The basis of the Dublin Mountains Partnership (DMP) was a collaborative project to devise a planned strategic approach to recreational activity in the Dublin Mountains.  At the outset, the project was recognised as a pilot exercise in recreation management on public owned land, close to a large population area.   This in large measure was facilitated by there being a single large-scale landowner committed to recreational management on its lands and prepared to co-operate with other landowners in recreation management, i.e. Coillte.  An additional benefit from the involvement of Coillte came from the availability of a wide range of recreational management experience to the project, and the involvement of Coillte's Recreation Manager as chair of the DMP.

The initial project aim was to develop a strategic vision and strategy for the area to progress this vision through an approach based on consensus. An important pre-existing circumstance was the formation of the Dublin Mountains Initiative (DMI).  This was an umbrella group, to which a wide spectrum of recreational users (including clubs, representative organisations, volunteer groups and individuals), were affiliated.  The DMI were able to bring to the process its own consensus on desirable objectives and priorities and were instrumental in achieving broad representative input into the development of the vision and strategic plan.  Almost as important, the DMI were able to tap into a significant voluntary effort contribution to help deliver the early initiatives of the strategic plan.

To aid the development of this pilot project, it was considered at an early stage appropriate that consultants and facilitators be appointed to help guide the process.  The success of this pilot project was that a shared vision was established and a strategic plan was agreed.  The strategic plan included recommendations on how it might be implemented;- via a partnership model based on consensus.  This was effectively a continuation of the pilot project process, but with a Memorandum of Understanding signed and agreed among the partners, with an initial 3 year commitment by all.  The Memorandum of Understanding was finalised in 2008, requiring the partners to the project an initial commitment until 2011.

To apply the approach of the DMP in the Dublin Mountains to the Liffey Valley, it would be necessary to explore the potential for the following key elements;

A vision and the strategy for a Liffey Valley Park has been put forward in the publication of the report Towards a Liffey Valley Park.  The Office of Public Works (OPW), in association with Dublin City Council, Fingal, Kildare and South Dublin County Councils, commissioned ERM Consultants to draw up a strategy for the Liffey Valley.   The report, Towards a Liffey Valley Park, was published by the OPW in November 2006.   The report presented a regional vision for the entire Liffey area and outlined an approach to achieve this vision.  This approach is significantly different from that of the DMP.  The OPW has however not followed through on this report.   

At present there is in existence the Liffey Valley Special Amenity Area Management Advisory Committee charged with oversight of the management plan for the area.   The development of a new model to progress the vision of a wider Liffey Valley Park in a manner similar to the Dublin Mountains Partnership would probably require the existing Committee to reconstitute its role in favour of a different model.

It is suggested that the idea of such a partnership would be discussed at the next meeting of the Liffey Valley Special Amenity Area Management Advisory Committee.