COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

MOTION NO. 11

MOTION: Councillor E. Tuffy

"That noting previous Reports and Replies in relation to the delayed taking-in-charge of Rossberry Estate, Lucan this Committee requests the Manager to pursue an objective of having a Motion for the Taking-in-Charge of the Estate on the Agenda of the July Council, notwithstanding that a very small number of enforcement works may not yet be completed, but on the assumption that the Council has the legal powers to achieve enforcement compliance after the Estate is in the charge of the Council."

REPORT:
Statutory timescales relating to public notice and consultation do not unfortunately allow for the taking in charge of this development by motion at the July Council meeting. The statutory procedure requires a minimum period of public display of the proposal for at least four weeks and a period of at least two weeks thereafter for submissions from the public, prior to the elected members approving the taking in charge at a full Council meeting on the basis of a report from the Manager. The statutory timescales required make this impossible before July.

The estate has to date not been taken in charge on the basis that the Council required consent from the receiver, funds to complete works to services in public areas and there was a significant road safety hazard in breach of both the planning permission and planning regulations. In this regard there were eight unauthorised walls presenting a road safety hazard and enforcement action has been proceeding with six of the eight cases now resolved by the removal of the walls.

To ensure that taking in charge related activity has progressed at the same time as the enforcement action, the Council has sequestered the security required to bring the estate to taking in charge standard and are tendering for the works and hope to have a contractor selected in the coming weeks. The Council has also recently obtained the receivers consent for  these works to be carried out. This leaves non compliance with the enforcement notice by two households as a remaining issue. An agreed date for one of the two outstanding enforcement actions to be complied with is 31 July 2013. However, in one case the matter has not progressed and proceedings are progressing.

It is the case that were the Council to initiate the statutory taking in charge (declaration of road to be public) process for this estate that so doing would be without prejudice to the ongoing enforcement cases that require the removal of the unauthorised walls. The taking in charge is on the basis that the necessary consents and finance are in place for taking in charge to proceed and that the unauthorised walls are on lands that the Council will not assume ownership/maintenance of.  It is proposed therefore, that that given the traffic hazard that non compliance presents that the enforcement action will continue to proceed even after taking in charge.