COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
HEADED ITEM NO. 4
PROPOSED TAXI BYE-LAWS LUCAN
This report has been prepared to clarify the position of the draft byelaws for Taxis in Lucan.
The following is a short summary of the process to date.
The Draft Byelaws were advertised in May 2012 and the Public consultation process closed in July 2012. In addition to advertisement in the media, a notice was also sent to
Lucan Cllrs, Lucan Chamber of Commerce , Sarsfield Park Residents Association , Taxi Federation and a Representative from Lucan Taxi Drivers.
Three submission were received from interested parties as follows
a) Mr. Eugene McGrattan, 3 Primrose Lane, Lucan
Objecting to the proposals.
B Sarsfield Park Residents Association
Broadly welcome the proposals.
c) South Dublin Chamber of Commerce (which included a submission from Willos B&B).
Strongly objecting to the proposals.
It should be noted that no submission was received from the Taxi operators/ Federation.
A meeting was arranged with local councillors for 23 October 2012 to discuss the submissions received during the public consultation process and make a recommendation. The members present undertook to discuss the matter further with their colleagues and revert with the outcome.
The matter was again raised at the Jan 2013 meeting and at the February 2013 meeting of the Committee. It was agreed that a meeting time would be arranged by the members to discuss the matter further.
In the meantime, the Council received notification of a grant from the NTA in 2013 to study the traffic management in Lucan village. This study could incorporate the development of public transport including taxi proposals within the village.
There being no consensus on the location of a waiting area for taxis, the members requested a report for the June Area Committee in correspondence with the Director of Roads & Water Services on 10th June 2013 and a meeting to discuss the matter was arranged for 13 June 2013.
Arising from this meeting, it was agreed that a report would issue to the members on the options available to the Committee in terms of resolving this matter at this time.
The options to be considered are
1.0 Approve the proposed bye Law and submit to full Council
2.0 Defer a decision until the traffic study was complete and if this provided a different solution then a new bye law would be required. It is intended that a report on this matter would be available in the Autumn.
3.0 Reject the proposed bye law.
4.0 A further option of providing the permanent Taxi Rank only with the exclusion of a waiting area was also examined but deemed to be unworkable.
It is recommended to the members that option 2 be approved and the Council would expedite the necessary traffic study.