COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

MOTION NO. 9

MOTION: Councillor Peter Kavanagh

Cathaoirleach's Business

"This Area Committee calls on the Chief Executive to tackle illegal dumping in Corkagh Park at peak times through increased signage and an increased deterrent through Park Rangers, and asks him to prepare a report on litter management in Corkagh Park."

REPORT:

There has been an increase in the number of visitors to Corkagh Park due to restrictions imposed by Covid 19 combined with the fine weather that has been experienced in the months of April, May and June. This increase has resulted in higher levels of litter being generated by park users.

There are 17 litter bins placed at strategic locations throughout the park to facilitate users in their disposal of litter. The bins are emptied daily Monday to Friday throughout the year. Where use is high with individual bins as was seen during April/ May, a second emptying is carried out as required. A Saturday bin emptying service has also been introduced in response to the higher levels of use which are currently being experienced.

In addition to the provision of litter bins there are 3 members of staff rostered to pick litter each Monday in the park. This is repeated on Wednesdays and Fridays by 2 members of staff. The Council would encourage all park users to adopt the “Leave no Trace” approach and take their waste home with them rather than discarding it.

Deterring littering through Park Ranger presence has limited effect as littering generally takes place when the rangers are not around. Corkagh Park extends to 120 hectares in size and opportunities to discard litter arise quite often.

We will be examining the options for signage. In that context we will consider guidelines such as those issued by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government in June 2010, which set out what is considered to be best practice and includes a requirement to control the proliferation of signage. It is now accepted practice to minimise signage where possible as proliferation of signage can reduce the effectiveness of essential signage.