COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, June 08, 2020

QUESTION NO. 17

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive to present a report on his plans for the future development of sports facilities in the County especially in areas where new Housing Development has been provided or planned; will he appreciate the importance of the issue for our communities and will he make a statement.

REPLY:

The provision of sports facilities within the parks and open spaces areas of the county are a vital component of the provision of active recreation within the county. Sports facilities are very important to ensure the health and well-being of our communities. The recent Covid-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of our parks and open spaces and the vital role active and passive recreation plays in people's lives. SDCC recently completed a sports pitch strategy (SPS) which was presented to the Council in January 2020. The SPS assesses current provision and future need and allows the Council to strategically plan provision of active recreation in the county based on projected team generation rates and makes recommendations to maximise capacity.

An outline of the findings are as follows:

• South Dublin has the second youngest population in the State in both the 2011 and 2016 Census.
• In the period 2006-2016, the population of South Dublin increased by 32,000. South Dublin is the newest and one of the fastest growing areas within the Dublin Metropolitan Area
• The current South Dublin County Development Plan has zoned residential land capable of delivering an estimated 39,649 housing units
• SDCC provide sports pitches in parks and open spaces across the county. Clubs from a range of sports are licenced for the use of pitches on an annual basis.
• There is increasing demand on Council provided pitches to cater for increased numbers of teams and clubs. There is also an increase in the variety and types of sports being pursued.
• There are currently 163 Local Authority owned grass pitches spread over 44 different locations across the county e.g. 29 pitches in Tymon Park.
• 55-65 GAA, Soccer and Rugby Union clubs are licensed pitches each year; of this amount 5 GAA, 1 soccer and 3 rugby clubs also have their own grounds.
• In 2019: 57 clubs were licenced, which facilitated play by 1,095 teams; which is an estimated 19,534 players.
• 5 of the Councils’ pitches are currently shared between clubs .
• All requests for pitches are currently being accommodated.
• Most of the pitches are rated as ‘standard’ quality.
• Clubs are happy with the quality of surface on offer.
• The Council also provide ancillary facilities (pavilions, storage etc.) at some locations.

Maintenance of pitches is carried out by SDCC with:

• Playing pitches a cut on a weekly basis.
• Annual maintenance programmes on a rolling basis.
• Planned capital investment programmes.

The main recommendations of the SPS include the following:

• Increase maintenance of pitches to improve match play equivalents
• Develop revised allocation policy; including pitch sharing and multipurpose use of facilities
• Reserve ability to change configuration of pitches.
• Provide new pitches to meet capacity issues
• Provide Artificial Grass Pitches to augment long term capacity and meet training nee

In relation to the delivery of new facilities particularly in areas of new housing development; EWCC seek to have facilities delivered in line with the policies outlined within the County Development Plan and the requirements of the various Local Area Plans across the county. In addition to developer-delivered infrastructure, SDCC also provide facilities funded through the Councils Capital and Revenue Budgets or various externally funded programmes such as the Sports Capital Grant programme. In this regard there are Imminent and planned recreational developments funded by SDCC and via the Sports Capital Grant /LIHAF programmes at:

• Dodder Valley Mt Carmel: (1 athletics track, 1 soccer pitch)
• Adamstown SDZ parks (1 multi-sport sized Artificial Grass Pitch, 1 GAA pitch, 1 cricket pitch)
• Kiltipper Park Phase 2 (1 GAA sized pitch / 2 soccer pitches)
• There is 3 million allocated to the Astro Pitch programme as part of the 2020-2022 capital budget.
• The current pavilion programme (subject to funding) is as follows: Dodder Valley Old Bawn, Griffeen Valley Park (North), Corkagh Park (West), Tymon Park (West of M50), Dodder Valley Mt Carmel, Griffeen Valley Park (Arthur Griffith Park), Collinstown Park

There is additional planned recreational provision as part of Local Area Plans (LAP) / masterplan development at:

• Fortunestown LAP area (1-2 GAA sized pitches)
• Firhouse/ Ballycullen LAP area (1 GAA sized pitch)
• Newcastle LAP area (1 GAA sized pitch)
• Rathcoole area (3-4 pitches in conjunction with GAA)
• Clonburris SDZ parks (1 multi sport sized Artificial Grass Pitch, 1 soccer sized Artificial Grass Pitch, 5 soccer pitches)
• Adamstown SDZ (outlined above)

It should also be noted the delivery of active recreational facilities within parks and open spaces extends outside sports pitch and related facility provision and also includes facilities such as playground equipment, gym equipment, Multi Use Games Areas, the cycle track in Corkagh Park, smaller sports facilities included within proposed Teen Space areas (e.g. the multi-use games wall), walking and cycling routes within parks and so on. The delivery of these facilities tends to be a mixture of facilities provided during the development of new housing estates in accordance with the requirements of planning legislation, the County Development Plan, Local Areas Plans etc. and facilities provided by the council in existing parks and open spaces.