COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

MOTION NO. 1

MOTION: Councillor G. Kenny

"That the Chief Executive now puts a provision in for a bottle bank in the North Clondalkin area. One location that has been identified is the car park next to the Rowlagh Community Centre."

REPORT:

The location at Rowlagh Community centre proposed for a bring bank location has been examined in the past, as have a number of other locations in the same general area. The Council's bring bank strategy requires that bring bank locations should be a minimum of 50 metres from the nearest house, as this condition cannot be met at Rowlagh Community Centre the proposed site has been deemed unsuitable for now. The matter of recycling in the Clondalkin area in general was raised on the agenda of the Clondalkin Area Committee meeting in June, the reply as set out below was given to that item. The first element of the review mentioned below is due to be take place at the end of September when the Environment SPC will consider the proposed amendment to the Bring Bank Strategy with regard to the requirement for siting of containers a minimum of 50 metres from the nearest housing. If this requirement can be removed then it will be possible to proceed and reconsider the Rowlagh Community Centre site which is proposed here. As mentioned previously the Council is committed to providing community recycling services in North Clondalkin, once a suitable site or sites can be identified.

The Council has had a community recycling strategy in place for a number of years now which identified the Council's aims and objectives in the area of recycling and these were largely taken from the Waste Management Plan for the Dublin Region for the period 2005 to 2010. It also set down criteria which were to be used in the decision making process around the siting of community recycling facilities in the County. This strategy now needs to be reviewed in light of the launch of the new Waste Management Plan for the Eastern Midlands Region for the period 2015 to 2021. One of the criteria listed in the existing strategy document was a requirement to site bring banks a minimum of 50 metres from the nearest housing however adhering to this requirement has meant that most sites which are Council owned and which have been considered for siting of a bring bank have been ruled out as they fail to meet it. This matter in particular requires close examination at this time, if it remains to be an absolute requirement then it is likely to continue to be prohibitive to securing new bring bank sites. It is desirable to have these facilities sited on Council owned lands as those which are placed on privately owned lands by agreement with the owner are vulnerable as they would have to be removed on request from the landowner.

It is proposed that a review of the recycling strategy would involve a detailed examination of the locations where recycling facilities are currently in place, it should also determine where the shortfalls in the provision of these services arise currently and should also attempt to identify proposed new locations for the provision of additional services in order to address those shortfalls. In carrying out this review the provision of recycling services in the Clondalkin area will be examined, as will all other parts of the County.