COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 25, 2017

MOTION NO. 10

MOTION: Councillor C. McCann

In view of the difficulties being experienced by those in wheel chairs or mobility impaired individuals and senior citizens crossing bridges in many of the parks in the South Dublin County Council areas that this Council agreed to initiate a review of all its parks with particular emphasis on making them more accessible to those who have physical impairments.

REPORT:

South Dublin County Council has been committed to access and equality since the Council was established in 1995. SDCC adopted the Barcelona Declaration in June 2002. This EU-wide Declaration advocates the right of disabled people to equal opportunities, inclusiveness and integration. SDCC has been actively implementing the Declaration ever since through various actions and access initiatives. The extensive access works and initiatives which SDCC have undertaken over the past 15 years in particular have been focused on removing the barriers that create disability and exclusion in order to create a truly Accessible South Dublin County, including the revision of existing infrastructure which would date back many years and pre-date the Council in some cases.

The council is incorporating accessibility into newly built infrastructure as it is rolled out. Newly built infrastructure in recent years has ensured universal access is incorporated by considering the location, the design detail and the materials used. For instance in the build of the large scale walking and cycling route through Dodder Valley, the 2 new bridges are universally accessible, and all entrances to the route from Old Bawn Road, Firhouse Road and Seskin View Road were upgraded to remove existing k-barriers and kissing gates and install a universally accessible entrance detail. Similarly in the build of the play space programme and recent refurbishment of regional playgrounds emphasis was placed on ensuring the play spaces are accessible for children with impaired or limited mobility; including children in wheelchairs. Car parking standards ensure the incorporation of accessible car parking spaces and access routes to them. The recent Part 8 process for the Dodder Greenway included a number of initiatives to ensure the Greenway route and all entrances and links to Dodder Valley Park are universally accessible; this includes 4 proposed shared access bridges over the Dodder, a re-design of the existing road under-passes, toucan crossings of road crossings with dished or ramped access, re-design of entrance details; all of which are proposed to be universally accessible. In terms of other existing bridges, a re-build would involve significant investment, however where existing bridges are subject to re-design; Access For All design parameters will be incorporated into the re-design of the bridge.

In order to ensure that this work is planned and provided for the public realm section will collate information on issues that need to be addressed with all staff requested to input. It is proposed to prepare a list of action areas that can be reviewed, costed and programmed. It is proposed to focus initially on entrances to parks, access from parking areas to footpaths, access to facilities within the park, accessibility of bridges within parks, accessible seating/picnic benches as raised in another Council meeting item. Minor improvements that are required can be carried out under the general maintenance programme, or if more substantial works are required then we could consider inclusion in the improvement works programme. 

It must be acknowledged however that concerns regarding access by motorbikes and scramblers and other motorised vehicles has led to access restrictions being implemented in many parks. Unfortunately these restrictions can have the unwanted side-effect of blocking access for certain types of mobility scooters, larger wheelchairs, buggies and so on as well as some bicycle users. At these locations within the county options are sometimes limited and the council tries to strike a balance between preventing unwanted and un-safe intrusion by these vehicles and ensuring all legitimate users have access.