COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, May 09, 2016

QUESTION NO.10

QUESTION: Councillor E. O'Brien

In light of the recent announcement of the NTA’s Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area, and noting that the previously proposed Metro West project has been omitted from the new strategy, can the Chief Executive please indicate if;

  1. Any land banks have been preserved by this Council for the construction of Metro West on foot of previous proposals

  2. If any development levies were collected on foot of any previous steps taken to construct the Metro West project

  3. If so have these levies been refunded or does this Council still retain them

  4. What, if any, impact will this decision have on previously made planning decisions taken by this Council

  5. And how will this decision impact the strategic planning of this Council and in particular with reference to the current county development plan

REPLY:

1) There was no Council owned lands specifically preserved or lands acquired for the construction of the Metro West.

2) In accordance with Section 49 of the Planning and Development Act 2000(as amended) as supplementary Development Contribution Scheme was adopted by the Council on the 9th of March 2009, and Development Levies were collected accordingly.

3) Following the announcement of the suspension of the Metro West Project South Dublin County Council resolved to suspend the supplementary scheme on the 10th of October 2011. The Planning Department then refunded the levies paid with interest were applicable to the planning applicants.  

4)  The decision to omit Metro-West from the Draft Transport Strategy will not impact on previous decisions issued by the Planning Authority.  There is no mechanism within the Planning and Development Act (as amended) for the retrospective review of planning decisions following changes in local, regional or national planning policies.  

5)  From the outset of the preparation of South Dublin County Council Development Plan 2016 -2022 (the Development Plan) it had been noted that the Metro-West project had been ‘suspended’ and had not been included within the Integrated Implementation Plan, 2013-2018, prepared by the National Transport Authority (NTA).  This cast substantive doubt on the project, which was taken into account when formulating the Development Plan’s Core Strategy.  Notwithstanding the uncertain status of Metro-West, the Draft Development Plan (May 2015) noted the importance of orbital public transport routes for the development of the County (and metropolitan area more generally) and sought to retain the Metro-West reservation (as identified in the current South Dublin County Council Development Plan 2010 -2016) for ‘future provision of high frequency public transport services’ (refer to Section 6.2.0 of the Draft Development Plan). 

The need for good quality orbital services has been recognised by the NTA within the Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016 – 2035 (the Strategy).  This is reflected by the inclusion of a Core Orbital Bus Network with a service between Tallaght and Blanchardstown.  The Strategy indicates that this will largely follows the route of the former Metro-West.  The wording of Section 6.2.0 is proposed to be modified (refer to Material Alteration Ref. Chapter 6 – No. 3) in response to the Strategy, and in response to submissions from the NTA and Motions put forward at the February 2016 Development Plan Meeting to make referee to the Core Orbital Bus network and ‘former’ Metro-West alignment.