COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SPC

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

HEADED ITEM NO. 2A

Update on Business Support Programme

(2a)  Report on Traditional Urban Centres Meeting - Lucan/Rathfarnham Traders 27th January 2012  

REPORT:

A meeting of the Working Group on Urban Centres took place on January 27^th 2012, chaired by Cllr Eamon Tuffy.

It was attended by representatives of the business communities in Rathfarnham, namely, Mr.C.McCarthy, Ms. H.Ross and Mr.F.McGovern and in Lucan, Mr. G.Kenny, Ms S. Doran, Mr M.Keane and Ms. Y. Malone
Elected members: Cllrs Eamon Tuffy, Cllr Emma Coburn, Cllr William Lavelle, Cllr Guss O’Connell and Cllr Paddy Cosgrave.

South Dublin Chamber of Commerce: Andrea Carroll.
Council Officials Frank Nevin, Maire O’ Dhomhnaill and Colin Ryan.

Following a general update on the work of the subgroup a group discussion then ensued during which the following matters were raised;

• Paid parking enforcement, particularly the suggestion for a grace period of ten minutes at either end of the paid parking period to allow for flexibility and to encourage people into the village centres. Members of the public should be clearly informed of this possibly through signage attached top the existing parking ticket machines.
• The possibility of opening access to the cemetery in Lucan village, promotion of Rathfarnham Castle and plans for the ‘formal garden’ at Rathfarnham Castle should be explored.
• The possibility of creating an historical walk including St. Enda’s, Rathfarnham Castle and other local areas of historical interest should be investigated.
• The promotion of our historical villages should be investigated from a tourism point of view.
• Suggestions were made in relation to the need for a single point of contact for business representatives to communicate with the organisation when seeking to obtain services or highlighting problems. This could be based on the ‘Fix your street’ electronic model.
• The role of the Tidy Town’s competition in fostering both an improved community spirit and village appearance.
• Consideration should be given to exploring the use of pop up shops to provide County Enterprise Info, Wi-fi. Also the designation of Rathfarnham as a fair trade village could be further explored.
• Suggestions were made in creating a more condensed and simplified energy saving programme, based on the on-going work of the Council and the Chamber.
• The area of procurement of services by the Council was raised. Given the complexity of this area, it was suggested that this may be dealt with separate to the work of this sub-group

Arising from this meeting the following actions are being currently perused:

• The IT department are considering the most appropriate technical arrangements needed for setting up an electronic portal for the local business community. This may be based on the ‘Fix Your Street’ model.
• Contact is being made with Office of Public Works with a view to  improved co-ordination and linakge.
• Following consultations with South Dublin Tourism work has begun on a brief non-technical description of the villages which would set out the identity and particular attractive characteristics of a village for marketing to visitors and locals alike
•  The suggestions made in relation to the grace period for paid parking is being considered.
•  Work is ongoing in relation to developing a County wide energy policy programme.
• Work is ongoing on promoting the Tidy Towns programme in villages throughout the County, including Lucan and Rathfarnham.

Progress on these matters will be reported back to the next SPC meeting.