COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

MOTION NO. 22

MOTION: Councillor E. Tuffy

"That the Manager would make a report on how the Christmas Tree Re-cycling Service worked at locations in the Lucan Electoral Area, and that his report would include details of the number and type of anti-social incidents at the Beech Park location, and advise what measures he proposes to put in place next year to allay concerns of residents."

REPORT:

The Council provided a Christmas tree recycling service from Monday 6th January to Friday 17th January 2014.   The public were invited to bring their Christmas trees to any of the 6 locations in the Lucan and Palmerston areas and have them recycled.  The 6 locations were as follows:

Lucan:

  1. Beechpark open space
  2. Sarsfield Park open space
  3. Haydens Lane car park in Griffeen Valley Park
  4. Foxborough Park open space 

Palmerston:

  1. Glenaulin Park
  2. Woodfarm Acres

There were 202 trees collected in the Palmerston Area and 1,111 collected in the Lucan Area.  There were incidences of trees being burnt at Glenaulin Park (2 No) and Beech Park (50 No).  The first fire incident at Beech Park was identified on Monday 6th January.  A total of 72 trees had been left on the open space, the majority of which were left prior to the recycling service commencing.  25 of these trees had been burnt.  The second incident was identified on Monday 13th January.  A total of 40 trees had been left on the open space, 25 of which had been burnt.  

The Beech Park site is visited on a daily basis (Monday to Saturday) to prevent the build up of Christmas trees and reduce the risk of fires.  It is envisaged that should this arrangement continue in future years the collection on Saturday will be scheduled to occur towards the latter half of the working day to ensure the maximum amount of trees are removed. 

The Beech Park site is a well used site in the Lucan area.  In total 307 Christmas trees were left at the site for recycling.  The site accounts for 28% of the Christmas Trees recycled in the Lucan area.