COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN MEETING

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

MOTION NO. 229

MOTION: Councillor Alan Edge

To actively promote and encourage more investment in improved and extended rail transport infrastructure throughout the county and to prioritise the importance of rail transport over buses in terms of both sustainability of development and our climate change obligations.

REPORT:

The first bullet point of the CE Strategic Recommendations under Sustainability Movement – Public Transport (General) states that the Draft Plan will?‘Support the delivery and improvement of public transport infrastructure and services across the County including BusConnects, rail and LUAS in terms of connections, capacity, and efficiency of services in line with national and regional policy’. The Development Plan will support the delivery of the NTA Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016 – 2035, which provides for a number of projects which will improve public transport in the SDCC area.  These include DART to Hazelhatch on the Kildare Line providing fast, high-frequency electrified services; Luas to Lucan, providing a high capacity link into the centre of Lucan’s large residential areas to the south of the N4 national road, and connecting to the city centre; 5 core radial bus routes, several orbital bus routes, and Clongriffin to Tallaght Bus Rapid Transit.  It would not be appropriate for the Development Plan to identify rail transport as a priority over bus as this would not reflect the NTA Strategy or national level policy. In terms of climate change, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has commenced the procurement process for up to 800 double-deck?battery electric buses as part of a shift towards greater sustainability in the public transport fleet.  Investment in rail infrastructure is a matter for the National Development Plan and NTA.

Recommendation:

It is recommended that the motion is not adopted.