COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

MOTION NO. 21

MOTION: Councillor G. O'Connell

"As a follow up to my question at the October meeting (Q 24) to ask the Chief Executive for a report on the recently renovated Childrens' Play Area in the Griffeen Valley Park. Local residents and dog walkers continue to complain about the results of vandalism on this beautiful play area. To include in the report how many times the fence at this location has been damaged, the cost of repairs and what action the Council has taken to address the vandalis and that the Chief Executive make a statement on the matter?"

REPORT:

The playground upgrade has been a welcome addition to the Griffeen Valley Park facilities and is really well used by people from the Lucan area and wider afield.

There has been only a minor incident of vandalism to playground equipment since the playground opened; with some minor damage to a swing seat around Hallowe’en time.

As reported at the Lucan ACM in September; following the re-opening of the playground, a number of fencing panels were pulled down and were re-erected by SDCC staff. The contractor was asked to strengthen the fence and carried out this work in late October. This prevented the panels being detachable. The cost of repair for the 4 panels damaged was subsumed into the cost of the upgrade of the fence. Since this work was carried out, one panel was damaged at Hallowe’en; which has since been re-erected and there has been no further incidents of this nature.

In addition since before the opening of the playground the Council has been in close communication with Lucan Gardai and have been working in tandem with them since the opening. This has resulted in a lot of active management within the area by both community Gardai and SDCC ranger staff. It has been noticed that in the weeks prior to Hallowe’en, and on-going since then, there has been a noticeable reduction in the amount of unwanted activity at the playground.

SDCC will continue to work in close co-operation with local Gardai in Lucan to prevent anti-social behaviour in Griffeen Valley Park. A recent meeting between SDCC and Lucan Gardai has outlined a number of new possibilities to pursue in this regard.