COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM/TEMPLEOGUE/FIRHOUSE/BOHERNABREENA AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

QUESTION NO. 3

QUESTION: Councillor Yvonne Collins

To ask the Chief Executive what plans are envisaged to alleviate the concerns of dog walkers in relation to Dodder Valley Park given the stated intention at the last Council meeting to ensure that all users of the park would be respected.

REPLY:

The following response and recommendation was made with regard to concerns raised by dog walkers in relation to the propsed works and is taken from the CE Report for the Part 8 process. Following the recent Part 8 process the Council will now proceed to detailed design for the project:

Chief Executives Response and Recommendation:

Dodder Valley Park is currently used by pedestrians (including dog walkers), joggers, people with buggies, people with disabilities and cyclists, and is currently used by people of all ages; including children. The area is also well used by a number of sports clubs; who have children within their teams. The implementation of a play trail and the provision of the playspace at these locations does not preclude the general area from use by any specific user-group, including dog walkers. Dog walkers within any park are a very welcome user-group.

The size of the Dodder Valley Park from Old Bawn Road to the Spawell Link Road is 64.84 hectares.

The size of the proposed playspaces and the pieces of equipment along the play trail will occupy approx. 6,500m2 at a maximum. This represents 1.002% of the overall park.

The size of the Cherryfield area from M50 to the Spawell Link Road is 17.36 hectares

The size of the proposed playspace at this location is a maximum of 1500m2 and the pieces of equipment proposed along the play trail at this location will occupy a maximum of approx. 500m2

This represents 1.15% of the space available in Cherryfield part of Dodder Valley Park.

It is felt that the use of these areas of playspace and the use of the play trail will not impact to a significant amount on the use of the park by other user groups. It is acknowledged that families and children may walk, cycle, run or skip along the footpaths and along the proposed play trail and between the proposed playspaces but this is to be expected in a public park and a legitimate and welcome use of same. Careful final siting and design of the proposed playspaces and the play trail pieces will also help to mitigate any such impact.

The Council does not limit the use of any of our public parks to one user group. Dog owners in public are asked to have respect for other people using public areas and have “effective control” of their dog.  The following link outlines the control of dogs required in South Dublin’s public places.

https://www.sdcc.ie/en/services/environment/animal-welfare/dogs/