COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

QUESTION NO. 5

QUESTION: Councillor M. Ward

"That the Council give an update on  the overall planned strategy for place-naming and place-finding protocols that are being developed to oversee the approval and standardisation of features such as commemorative plagues and heritage information signage and when this signage will be delivered across the county." 

REPLY:

The County Villages Signage pilot was in Tallaght in 2015. This project is aimed at pedestrian and cyclists orientation in and near Villages. It involves both finger-post signs and map panels that direct to the main features of the Village within a 10minute walk radius. While some of the finger signs may include direction to significant heritage features, the map panels include heritage images from Villages and links to the libraries online audio Village Heritage Walks that may be downloaded for visitors. These are also available in hard copy and will supplement the excellent materials developed in this area by the local Clondalkin group.

The Villages Signage programme will be delivered in each Village and the sequence of rollout has been agreed through the Economic Enterprise & Tourism SPC and Council in December 2015. Budgetary provision has been made for this programme. The approved sequence of roll-out places Clondalkin as a priority location to coincide with the development of the Round Tower Visitor Centre during 2017.

As part of the development of the Round Tower Visitor Centre opportunities to display and tell the story of the heritage of the area will be included in the exhibition space. Finalisation of the interpretative plan for the Centre will therefore influence the nature and timing of the roll-out of further heritage information in the area, as will the potential development of a heritage trail in Corkagh Park.

In the Village environment a crucial road safety and aesthetic consideration in the implementation of the signage scheme is the necessity to balance provision of signage without creating a proliferation of signage - directional or otherwise, so as to clutter the appearance of streetscapes. This will have to be a consideration in the roll-out, to ensure that the urban area of the Village is enhanced. Therefore completion of the interpretative plan for the Centre will inform signage and panel locations and content for the Village.