COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE

Monday, June 28, 2021

QUESTION NO.

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the CEO if he is aware of the concerns of the community in Citywest at the continued delay in providing the much needed community centre in Citywest; will he give assurances and make a statment

REPLY:

The Community Department is committed to the delivery of appropriate community facilities within the area of the Fortunestown/Citywest Local Area Plan as soon as possible with substantial provision for such facilities in the Council’s Three-Year Capital Programme 2021-2023, to be funded by development contributions.

The LAP commits, under its Objective LUD1, to the provision of “community facilities….across the Plan lands at a rate of 300sq.m per 1,000 dwellings”, equating to 990m² of community floor space over the lifetime of the plan to serve the proposed 3,300 residential units envisaged in the plan.  This requirement has increased with the higher density residential development in the area due to amended planning guidelines, with more than 3,700 homes granted approval to date.

Despite associated approvals for a combined 610m² of community space, across a number of planning permissions to date in line with the phasing requirements of the LAP, no community facilities have been delivered within the area to date.  The Community Department’s view is that a number of smaller community facilities throughout the LAP lands are not the optimal response to community needs, with such smaller units historically proving very challenging to be functional and usable as community space and the preference is for suitable facilities of scale to be sustainable and capable of providing for multi-use community activities.

The existing planning permissions relate to a number of small units of community floorspace that were permitted in accordance with the LAP but which have not been constructed – historically, such small units have been very challenging to be functional and usable as community space and the preference within the LAP is for a large, central community facility.  While analysis of potential options/sites is ongoing, the lack of available Council owned land within the LAP is a significant constraint and negotiations with developers are therefore required to secure the development of a community centre.  As previously reported to the Members of this Area Committee, various discussions with developers/landowners in the area have not to date resulted in agreement for the provision of such facilities.  However, it is an immediate priority for the Community Department to finalise a preferred option to progress the development process for a significant community facility of sufficient scale to meet the community needs of the area and members of this Committee will be advised on progress as soon as possible in this regard.