COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
MOTION NO. 3
MOTION: Councillor B. Bonner
That the Manager present a report on the plans that are in place for St Cuthbert's Park in Clondalkin with particular reference to the following
1. Possibility of providing a community centre facility for the Deansrath area.
2. Possibility of installing a playground to serve the community in Deansrath
3. Possibility of installing adult exercise equipment in the park
4. Plan to address dumping and flytipping in the park.
5. Plan to ensure that the park is used more by the community
REPORT:
1. Possibility of providing a community centre facility for the Deansrath area
There are no proposals at present to build another community centre in the Deansrath area. The area is already served by Bawnogue Community Centre and also by St. Ronan's Community Centre. Financial constraints mean that there is no prospect of constructing any new community centre but in addition, it is considered that the existing centres serving the areas are relatively under-utilised and it would make no sense to construct another facility.
2. Possibility of installing a playground to serve the community in Deansrath
Following on from discussion of the revised Play Policy 2012, which was presented to the Elected Members at the June 2012 Council Meeting, it was agreed that the Playground Construction Programme would be amended to remove playgrounds which had been completed, retain all playgrounds from the first programme which have not been completed and include all locations proposed by the Elected Members as playground sites in the years following the adoption of the first Playground Construction Programme in 2007.
A revised Playground Construction Programme was presented to the Sports-Recreation-Community and Parks Strategic Policy Committee on 5th September 2012 for approval. The list of locations included in the Programme as presented can be found at the following link.
The advancement of a playground construction programme is subject to the availability of the necessary funding and would also be subject to a number of other factors including including a scoping exercise to review the distribution of existing playgrounds in the county, proximity of depots for routine inspection, maintenance and upkeep, sustainability, and Part 8 planning approval, as necessary.
It is intended to bring the proposed Playground Construction Programme to the full Council early in the New Year for adoption as the Playground Construction Programme 2013 - 2017.
While St Cuthbert's Park is not on the Playground Construction Programme 2013-2017 it will be assessed to determine its suitability for inclusion on any subsequent programmes subject to the criteria set out above. The Deansrath area is currently catered for by a regional playground located in Corkagh Park.
3. Possibility of installing adult exercise equipment in the park
Given the success of the provision of exercise equipment in parks throughout the County in 2012 consideration will be given to expanding this initiative to other locations. St Cuthbert's Park will be assessed as a possible location subject to the identification of the necessary resources.
4. Plan to address dumping and fly-tipping in the park.
St Cuthbert's Park is on a routine cleansing schedule and is cleaned on a regular basis. The incidences of fly-tipping often occur late in the evenings and at weekends when staff are not on duty. Significant work is ongoing to tackle this issue however it is only with the co-operation of community groups and residents living in the area that this problem can be eradicated successfully.
5. Plan to ensure that the park is used more by the community.
Efforts to ensure the park use is optimised include the provision of a 2km Slí na Sláinte route, a full size soccer pitch and smaller 5-a side pitch which was installed in 2012. The Council has worked pro actively in encouraging the local soccer club to avail of the pitch facilities however the club did not apply for a pitch allocation for the current season. A review of park hedgerows was undertaken in 2012 and it is proposed to undertake some pruning works in the latter part of 2013 to make the park more attractive to user groups. A programme of regular path sweeping is being introduced to ensure that the paths are kept free of litter/glass as much as possible.
In addition to the above, an Archaeological/Architectural Conservation Consultant has recently been appointed to undertake a condition assessment of the Church and graveyard in the park. The object of the assessment is to direct any future maintenance works of the protected site area.