COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN MEETING

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

MOTION NO. 166

MOTION: Councillor Eoin Ó Broin

Economic Development and Employment Section: As there are no Public Rights of Way in SDCC change the bullet, 'Review and update existing policies and objectives to support the protection and promotion of public rights of way in the county.' to ' Map and list public rights of way across the county as part of the development plan process.'

REPORT:

There is a requirement in the Planning Acts under Part II, section 10(2)(o) to include objectives for:

‘the preservation of public rights of way which give access to seashore, mountain, lakeshore, riverbank or other places of natural beauty or recreational utility, which public rights of way shall be identified by both marking them on at least one of the maps forming part of the development plan and by indicating their location on a list appended to the development plan.’

The legislation requires that the Development Plan preserves the types of public rights of way outlined and identify them by marking them and listing them in the Development Plan. At this point in time no public rights of way have been identified in South Dublin. Should there be an intention to map and list a public right of way for the first time in the Development Plan, there is an obligation under section 14 of the Planning Acts to serve notice on the owner or occupier and follow a set procedure which provides for appeal to the Circuit Court. The timeframe for the procedure would not be possible, from an operations perspective, to carry out within the timeframe of the Development Plan process.

It should be noted that the Planning Acts, section 14(7)(a) state that:

‘Nothing in this section shall affect the existence or validity of any public right of way which is not included in the Development Plan.’

The motion to amend the CE Recommendation would provide for the identification and mapping of public rights of way within the lifetime of the 2022-2028 Plan. It is considered that this would be an appropriate timeframe to carry out an identification and the required notification process.

Recommendation:   It is recommended that this motion is adopted with the following amendment:

Review and update existing policies and objectives to support the protection and promotion of public rights of way in the county and map and list public rights of way across the county where they are identified within the lifetime of the Plan.'