COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

MOTION NO. 7

MOTION: Councillor E. Ó Broin

This Committee agrees that the Manager will table a report for discussion on the pedestrian access gate to the park at Cherrywood Drive detailing previous requests for this gate to be locked at night and to outline options for residents to assist them in reducing the levels of anti social behaviour arising from this gate being open at night time.

REPORT:

Official Park Opening hours are 10.00am year round with closing times varying from 5.00pm in winter to 9.00pm in summer. At present, park closing time is 7.00pm. While closing hours apply to both vehicular and pedestrian gates, in practice, many pedestrian access points are left open to facilitate local residents. In the case of Corkagh Park, there are 27 separate access points, so in order to open and close all of them in sequence would take approximately one hour in the morning and the same again in reverse in the evening.

This could mean, for example, that the pedestrian gate at Cherrywood Drive might not be open until nearly 11.00am in the morning and could be closed, at this time of the year, as early as 6.00pm. Clearly, this would restrict park access for residents of Cherrywood Drive and surrounding roads.  The Council is aware that many local residents use this gate from early morning through to late evening in summer to access, not just the park but also local facilities, amenities and transport links.

When the issue of anti-social behaviour around the gate was raised a few years ago, arrangements were made to have the gate opened and closed in accordance with official park opening hours. This arrangement was discontinued after a short period following a number of complaints from the public. Following the complaints, the pedestrian gate was locked in the open position and has remained in this position to date. 

While the Council can arrange again to have the gate open and closed in accordance with park opening hours, is anticipated, based on previous experience, that this will again result in significant inconvenience and disruption to local residents.