COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN MEETING

Thursday, June 17, 2021

MOTION NO.

MOTION: Councillor L. Dunne

Chapter 8: COS 3 Objective 2: To amend To remove 'support' and replace with 'ensure' the provision of new community centres in new and add 'existing' development areas add 'or where provision is the responsibility of Developers, the Council will ensure they provide', in proximity to the population they serve & in accordance with the standard of one Centre per 9;000 population with a size of approximately 1,200-1,800 sqm, or dependant on specific local demographic or other needs, smaller centres at a more local level, generally between 350-650sqm in size at the discretion of the Council, or maybe updated by any future community centre strategy carried out by the Council.

REPORT:

This motion proposes to amend the wording of COS 3 Objective 2 from:

‘To support the provision of new community centres in new development areas, in proximity to the population they serve and in accordance with the standard of one centre per 9,000 population with a size of approximately 1,200-1,800 sqm, or dependent on specific local demographic or other needs, smaller centres at a more local level, generally between 350-650sqm in size at the discretion of the Council, or as may be updated by any future community centre strategy carried out by the Council’.

To:

To support ensure the provision of new community centres in new and existing development areas or where provision is the responsibility of Developer, the Council will ensure they provide, in proximity to the population they serve and in accordance with the standard of one centre per 9,000 population with a size of approximately 1,200-1,800 sqm, or dependent on specific local demographic or other needs, smaller centres at a more local level, generally between 350-650sqm in size at the discretion of the Council, or as may be updated by any future community centre strategy carried out by the Council’

It is considered that there is no need to add ‘existing’ to the above objective as the existing COS 3 Objective 5 has already provided for identification of gaps in provision in existing areas and ensuring that new community centres are provided where such gaps exist:

COS 3 Objective 5 is ‘To support and facilitate the development of a Community Centre Strategy to include the assessment of existing community floorspace/ facilities within the County, to identify gaps in provision and to ensure new community centres are provided in existing and new development areas having regard to the Social Infrastructure Audit carried out for the Development Plan’.

The amendment to replace ‘support’ with ‘ensure’ is acceptable. However, there is no requirement to include the words ‘or where provision is the responsibility of Developer, the Council will ensure they provide’ as this is sufficiently dealt with in the objective by the amended wording which would read:

To ensure the provision of new community centres in new development areas in proximity to the population they serve and in accordance with the standard of one centre per 9,000 population with a size of approximately 1,200-1,800 sqm, or dependent on specific local demographic or other needs, smaller centres at a more local level, generally between 350-650sqm in size at the discretion of the Council, or as may be updated by any future community centre strategy carried out by the Council’

In addition, the below objective gives further discretion to the Council to ensure the appropriate delivery of community centres in situations where, for example, sites may be too small of themselves to provide one.

COS 3 Objective 3: ‘To provide discretion to the Council to require residential or mixed used developments in new development areas to provide a pro rata contribution towards the provision of a community centre, in accordance with the standards   set out in Objective 2 and in line with the Development Contribution Scheme’.

COS 3 Objective 5 supports and facilitates the development of community centres in existing areas.

The objective should be amended to replace the word ‘support’ with ‘ensure’.

Recommendation

It is recommended that this motion is adopted with amendment to read:

COS 3 Objective 2:  To ensure the provision of new community centres in new development areas in proximity to the population they serve and in accordance with the standard of one centre per 9,000 population with a size of approximately 1,200-1,800 sqm,  or dependent on specific local demographic or other needs, smaller centres at a more local level, generally between 350-650sqm in size at the discretion of the Council, or as may be updated by any future community centre strategy carried out by the Council’