COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

QUESTION NO. 5

QUESTION: Councillor G. O'Connell

"To ask the Chief Executive for a report on the success or otherwise of the maintenance schedule for the laneways in Palmerstown and to include in the answer how often the laneways have been cleaned since September 2014, if all laneways have been included, how much and what type of material has been removed and to confirm that ALL of each laneway is cleaned and that the set-backs, or recesses, for gateways and/or garages are included, and that the grass/shrubbery areas are cleaned as these are part of the public laneways, are often where dumping takes place but in some cases have material left untouched for over 12 months."

REPLY:

The laneway cleaning programme was designed to initially schedule cleanups to take place on a 6 week rotating cycle with a review of frequencies to occur after 3 months. The programme commenced operation in April 2014 and all laneways were cleaned of dumped material systematically over the first 6 week period. During the second 6 week period efforts were concentrated on the removal of vegetation in addition to waste removal. This was followed up by the application of herbicides during June and July. It became apparent during this period that the volume and frequency of waste being dumped exceeded the resources available to keep the lanes clean on the 6 week period as initially proposed. The programme was therefore modified and currently all lanes are inspected on a weekly basis and waste material removed where it is present. The most heavily littered lanes are prioritised first.

The type of material removed includes builder’s rubble, skip bags, bottles & cans, mattresses, household furniture, green waste, televisions and domestic waste. Due to the variety and size of waste found in the laneways, a number of methods are used to collect it. This includes removal by hand, by JCB or by grab truck. It is not possible to quantify the waste removed as it is not segregated from other waste collected at various locations in the County during the course of the day.

Set-backs/recesses, for gateways and/or garages are cleaned during the course of works. On occasions where building type material is present in these locations for a long period of time, the property owner is contacted to determine the status of the material. Quite often the material is subsequently removed by the property owner. Not all set-backs/recesses are in public ownership. Individuals who wish to establish the status of the area behind their property would need to contact the Property Registration Authority.

Dumped material which is found on the periphery of grass/shrubbery areas adjacent to the laneways are cleaned while laneway cleanups are taking place. One area which would not be included in this is the grass/shrubbery area in the lane behind Oakcourt Grove/Close and Drive. This area is in private ownership as previously reported under Motion 10 at the Lucan Area Committee Meeting in December 20l2.

The lanes have been cleaned 6 times in September, 4 times in October, 3 times in November, 2 times in December and 2 times in January.