COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SDZ, LAPS AND PLANNING PROJECTS

Friday, January 26, 2018

MOTION NO. 292

MOTION: Councillor E. Higgins

That table 4.3 be amended to omit the phase 1A & 1B references to Kishogue Train Station and to include the following text under ‘Prior to commencement of development’: “Opening of Kishogue Train Station with access to regular daily commuter rail services”; and that table 4.6 be also amended accordingly.

Cllrs William Lavelle, Emer Higgins, Vicki Casserly, Kenneth Egan, Paula Donovan, Brian Lawlor and Conor McMahon

REPORT:

The subject motion is one of a number of motions proposing to amend Table 4.3 of the Scheme in relation to the opening of Kishoge Railway Station. 

The National Transport Authority (NTA) is a statutory body established by the Minister for Transport. At a national level, the National Transport Authority has responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger land transport services. This includes the provision of subvented bus and rail services by Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail. 

Predominantly, the motions have requested bringing forward the opening of Kishoge Railway Station in the Phasing Table. It should be noted that Section 4.7 outlines that any required works may be brought forward and completed sooner than scheduled in the Phasing Programme. 

Kishoge Railway Station has a constructed platform and station however, the station is not operational at present. It is recognised that the operation of the Kishoge Railway Station is critical to delivering the vision, the projected transport modal share and a sustainable community. The railway station is fully integrated into the density, land use, urban centre hierarchy and street network in the Draft Planning Scheme. 

The NTA has stated that it is envisaged that the Kishoge railway station will open in 2020 once development occurs in its vicinity. The level of train service is a function of the service providers and outside the control of SDCC and the SDZ landowners. At present, the NTA outlines that 7 services operate on this line inbound between 6:30am and 9:28am and 8 outbound in the evening. The NTA indicate that Kishoge will be served by the same number of trains as the existing service to Adamstown, including those which are provided via the Phoenix Park Tunnel. Prior to the roll out of the DART Expansion Programme, the NTA have indicated that further improvements to the service will occur to deliver a higher capacity, higher frequency service to Clonburris. 

The Phasing Programme includes for agreement on the timeframe for opening in Phase 1A. In this context and noting that the station requires some works to reopen, the Chief Executive considers that the opening of the railway station as part of Phase 1B is a balanced provision to support critical mass for the railway station and allow time for the works to be carried out in tandem with residential construction. 

In relation to the inclusion of frequency of transport services in the Phasing Table, the Chief Executive considers that such provision would be difficult to implement in practice as the provision of services is outside the control of SDCC and is open to change by service operators. As such, in general, it is considered that the Phasing Programme should be measureable and focus on fixed infrastructure. Public transport services and frequency requirements could cause ambiguity in the phasing and unnecessarily delay the delivery of housing and other associated infrastructure.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the motion is not adopted.

Strategic Environmental Assessment of Chief Executive’s Recommendation

No interaction with Strategic Environmental Objectives.

Appropriate Assessment Screening of Chief Executive’s Recommendation

No likely significant effects on European sites within the SDZ’s zone of influence are predicted.