COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
MOTION NO. 9
MOTION: Councillor C. Jones
That the Manager will give a report to this committee on the actions of cleansing crews in the electoral area with particular emphasis on the increase in activity since the expansion of workers in this field.
REPORT:
Report on Functions of Cleansing Section in Lucan Area
The Council utilises the services of both the Operations Unit, the Cleansing Unit based in Ballymount Depot in conjunction with a Private Contractor who has dedicated teams that operate an extensive street-cleaning programme on Main Roads, Local Roads and Estates. The Council’s Cleansing Staff target central locations in Lucan and Palmerston using handcart, green machine and litter bin operatives.
South Dublin County Council ceased refuse collections on 1 April 2011. On Monday 4 April 2011 a total of 55 staff which included an area engineer, clerical officer, one foreman, an assistant foreman and 51 general staff were all redeployed to the new Operations Section of the Environmental Services Department. During the course of 2011, the work programme for the operations section was drawn from requests by litter wardens, public representatives, Council Departments and members of the public through the customer contact system to have problem areas around the County cleaned up. The number of general staff in the operations section dropped from 50 to 40 during the course of 2011, following the retirement of 7 staff and the redeployment of 3 drivers to fill critical vacancies in the Water Maintenance Section.
The Environmental Services Department has introduced a system of scheduled cleaning that will include all areas of the County. The schedule is based on the Road Sweeping Programme; crews are assigned to areas between scheduled sweeps by the Road Sweeping Contractor. This schedule assigns a priority to each area, which reflects the frequency of cleaning required in the area.
In the Lucan Area the following areas were cleaned by the Operations Crews February 2012 and the weight of dumped material recorded .
| Area | Date | Weight of material collected |
| Ashfield, Berryfield, Elderberry, Woodberry Finnswalk, Finnsgrove, Finns View, Finns Vale | 13thFebruary | 220 kgs |
| Finnstown Cloisters | 13thFebruary | 500 kgs |
| Johnsbridge Estate, Westbury | 13thFebruary | 140 kgs |
| Castle Riada Estate | 20th February | 360 kgs |
| Moy Glas Estate | 20thFebruary | 1,280 kgs |
| Foxborough estate | 20thFebruary | 340 kgs |
| Castle Road (From School to Ballyowen Road) | 20thFebruary | 220 kgs |
| Rochfort Estate/Colthurst Estate | 20thFebruary | 100 kgs |
| Earlsfort Estate | 20thFebruary | 600 kgs |
| Cherbury Park Footbridge | 20thFebruary | 240 kgs |
| Palmerston (Cedar Drive, Woodfarm Acres, Hollyville) | 21st February | 100 kgs |
| Old Lucan Road, Mill Lane, Palmerston Cottages, Riverview | 21st February | 160 kgs |
| Footbridge at Woodies, Footbridge at Esker pines | 21st February | 200 kgs |
| Ballyowen Lane | 24th February | 200 kgs |
| Abbeywood Estate, Abbeydale Estate, Rosewood Estate | 24th February | 200 kgs |
| Haydens Park Estate and Elm Estate | 27th February | 700 kgs |
| Tully Hall Estate | 27th February | 140 kgs |
| Palmerston Drive, The Oval, Woodfarm Avenue | 28th February | 280 kgs |
| Willsbrook Park | 7th March | 120 kgs |
| Palmerston Avenue, Palmerston Drive, The Oval Turret Road, Wheatfield Road | 9th March | 320 kgs |
| Ballyowen Lane | 9th March | 150 kgs |
| Griffeen Valley Park | 13th /14th March | 480 kgs. |
The supervisors inspect the areas that are subject to general littering such as paper, plastic bottles, food wrappers and crews undertake a general litter pick of the area. Some of this waste originates from bins that are abandoned or not collected and the loose material is then transported by the wind into planted areas and green spaces. Individuals discard other material as they travel through the area. Fly tipping of domestic waste bags abandoned in laneways and deposited into the planting/hedging on the open spaces is a more serious problem. Some of this waste is burnt, and requires mechanical intervention in its removal. The burning of the waste destroys the surrounding vegetation leaving landscaping scarred and unsightly.
The Cleansing Crews continue to operate on a daily basis, collecting fly tipped waste in lanes, ditches and housing areas whilst the litterbins are collected on a regular frequency Monday – Friday. The volume of material removed by these crews is in addition to that removed by the Operations Crew, the Road Sweeping Contractor and the Private Waste Collectors who operate the kerbside collections.