COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE
Monday, November 25, 2019
MOTION NO. 5
MOTION: Councillor L. Dunne
Co-Signed by:
Cllr Patrick Holohan
Cllr Cathal King
That this Area Committee calls on the Chief Executive to immediately set up a High Level Task Force to deal with the increasing & ongoing environmental issues and serious anti-social issues in Mac Uilliam Estate. This High Level Task Force should include Senior Council Staff, Senior Members of the Garda, Barnardos & all other relevant Service Providers & to meet as a matter of urgency.
REPORT:
A revised approach has commenced under the recently adopted Anti-Social Behaviour strategy with two members staff from the Anti-Social Behaviour team currently dedicated to investigating anti-social behaviour by tenants of Council rented dwellings in Mac Uilliam estate. Since the 6th November 2019, over 350 house calls have been made in the area which has resulted in the issuing of 47 tenancy warnings as detailed below:
|
Breakdown of warnings |
Number |
|
|
|
|
Rubbish in garden/Communal Area |
42 |
|
Dumping of bonfire material |
1 |
|
Condition of dwelling |
3 |
|
Damage to another dwelling |
1 |
In addition, 3 dwellings were found to be illegally occupied, as a result there are currently 2 abandonment notices being prepared and one dwelling has been surrendered. A number of abandonned cars were also identified and removed from the estate.
The Estate Management Section have been working with residents at Mac Uilliam to improve the area and a local environmental rroup has been established to develop an estate action plan for the area. The initial meeting took place in August 2019 and since then these meetings have continued on a monthly basis and includes senior staff from the Council's Housing, Social and Community Development Department and Community Gardai. There have been significant challenges at the estate, particularly in the last few weeks with Halloween. A collection of items/junk took place the week before Halloween to minimise potential damage and a post Halloween clean-up has taken place. Other initiatives include the power washing of pavements at Mac Uilliam Ave, greasing of public lighting poles as a preventative measure to stop youths climbing them, repair of railings at Mac Uilliam Lane; repair of cobble lock at Mac Uilliam Grove and Walk and the planting of daffodil bulbs at front of green area at Mac Uilliam Crescent.
In addition to this, the 28 new houses at Mac Uilliam Heights were allocated in September 2019 and residents from this new area have recently joined the environmental group. The Council are committed to supporting their work by proactively engaging with them and ringfencing funds from the estate management budget to support their locally identified priorities. In recognition of ongoing estate management challenges, the Council’s annual budget for 2020 has been increased by an additional €100,000.
The Council's Estate Management, Community Development and Public Realm sections are working together and have identified the Mac Uilliam area as a priority for an enhanced estate management initiative to address various local issues identified including environmental, social exclusion and representation challenges. Planning is underway for delivery of various measures in Mac Uilliam including:
- prioritisation under the planned maintenance programme for window/door replacement, painting and upkeep of communal areas and other repair works;
- capacity building with local residents to foster the development of a local residents' group including prioritising local works identified by residents;
- support of local residents' groups through the social credit scheme;
- additional supports for public realm maintenance and local clean-ups;
- ring-fencing estate management funds to deliver priority works;
- review of allocations to provide for enhanced estate management considerations in tenancy allocation;
- targeted campaign to address anti-social behaviour issues and consideration of opportunities for local CCTV installation to support this;
- engagement of relevant Council sections as well as other state, community and voluntary agencies to deliver sports, arts and community support programmes where possible;
- review of investment in repeated repair of local playground facilities to provide better community value and amenity;
- assessing the potential for targeted awareness and enforcement in relation to household waste collections;
- enhanced street sweeping and cleaning programme under imminent new contract for this service;
These measures will complement existing community development activities and supports in the area including:
- estate management clinics;
- support for local environmental group and resident led clean-up activities;
- Council/FAI/DDLETB football street leagues in July;
- Barnardos/Foroige/YMCA youth support activities;
- Ongoing investigation and clean-up of littering and illegal dumping including targeted enforcement measures and increased and more visible litter warden;
- Quarterly street sweeping of roads within the estate along with monthly sweeping and cleaning of main road at the front of the estate;
- Fortnightly clean-ups and grass-cutting of green areas as well as response call-outs to remove dumped materials by Public Realm.