COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

MOTION NO. 7

MOTION: Councillor G. O'Connell

"That the Chief Executive provide a report on the cleaning of shores or gullies to include how often they are cleaned, when they were last cleaned and how many complaints have been received in relation to them in the Lucan Palmerston area and that a discussion take place on the level of flooding or ponding experiences in some areas and on what relationship, if any, is between the two. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the present approach is not working."

REPORT:

There are 45,000 road and street gullies in the county. A Street Sweeping Service Contract is currently in operation, the main elements of the services provided under the contract are road sweeping, litter picking and gulley cleaning on main roads, housing estate roads, industrial estate roads, dual carriageways and motorway access roads.  Also provided is a seasonal service to remove leaves and a seasonal service to control weeds.  There are limitations to all aspects of the services provided.  For example the cleaning of main roads includes the litter picking of the adjoining footpaths and open spaces, however the extent of litter picking on open spaces has been curtailed to a maximum of 50 metres width.  Also, the leaf removal has been specified to take place from September to January inclusive and does not take place during the other months of the year.  Town and village centre locations are excluded from the road sweeping element of the contract as they are cleaned daily by the handcart and green machine operatives who are assigned to the Council's cleansing section.   

The Street Sweeping Service Contract operates in addition to and in tandem with the cleansing services of the Council's direct labour cleaning sections made up of Operations & Cleansing Sections and the Council's Drainage & Roads Maintenance Sections.

Areas that have a history of flooding and ponding are monitored by council crews during periods of adverse weather.