COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM/TEMPLEOGUE-TERENURE AREA COMMITTEE
Tuesday, May 08, 2018
MOTION NO. 7
MOTION: Councillor P. Foley
"That the Chief Executive arrange for a report to be presented to this Area Committee on the Wellington Lane Roundabout. People are understandably annoyed. When will the works be completed and what is the plan for maintenance going forward? That this Council maintains the roundabout to the highest standard."
REPORT:
"A budget of €50,000 was included in the Public Realm Improvement Works Programme for an upgrade of the Orwell roundabout, as approved by the elected members of the Council.
Work commenced on site clearance in June 2017 followed by hard landscaping works and these works were substantially completed by the end of August. A large quantity of subsoil and topsoil was required for the site so as to achieve the correct ground levels in accordance with the landscaping design. However a delay occurred in September/October whereby the source of subsoil and topsoil which had been identified for the job subsequently fell through and alternative sources had to then be found. This problem was overcome in November and the hard and soft landscaping subsequently continued.
Extensive planting of this large roundabout which is almost 3,000 square metres in size, includes specimen trees, almost 2,000 shrubs and grasses, almost 14,000 ground cover plants and 35,000 bulbs.
The specimen tree, grass and shrub planting was complete in December.
Planting of the ground cover Ivy plants and Daffodil bulbs commenced in January and had to be postponed due to the very poor weather and ground conditions on site.
The period of poor weather conditions, including snowfall and Storm Emma, continued until April this year. The Met Eireann, Weather Summary for January 2018 states that ‘All rainfall totals were above their Long-Term Average (LTA) for the month’. The Met Eireann, Farming Weather Analysis, dated Thursday 12th April states ‘ rainfall totals for the past seven days have been well above normal’ and that ‘not only has it been a wet Spring but it's also been cold, the mean temperatures for the month of March were between 1.7 and 2.7 degrees below average. In addition ‘most soils are currently saturated’.
The prolonged period of very poor weather finally gave way to milder, dryer more spring like conditions at the end of April. Planting and landscaping works then resumed at the end of April when weather and ground conditions on site were suitable. Works are continuing on site and are due for completion this month.
Once the works are complete the roundabout will be included in the Council's roundabout sponsorship programme and will be scheduled for regular routine maintenance from the date of completion."