COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN MEETING

Tuesday, March 01, 2022

MOTION NO.57

MOTION: Councillor William Joseph Carey, Councillor Derren Ó Brádaigh

SD-C195-245 - NTA - Page 89 To insert new objective; 'To work closely with the NTA to deliver a fit for purpose public transport service, that meets the needs of commuters, by expanding and delivering upon the existing BusConnects service and future planned rail connectivity through the roll-out of Dart + South West and delivery of the Luas, in parallel with Clonburris and Adamstown developments'. Submitted By: Cllr Derren Ó Brádaigh & Cllr William Carey

REPORT:

 The motion proposes to the insert a new objective as follows:  

‘To work closely with the NTA to deliver a fit for purpose public transport service, that meets the needs of commuters, by expanding and delivering upon the existing BusConnects service and future planned rail connectivity through the roll-out of Dart + South West and delivery of the Luas, in parallel with Clonburris and Adamstown developments.’ 

It should be noted that a similar motion was put forward at pre-Draft Plan stage under Motion ID: 70855 to insert a new Objective as follows:  

‘To engage with the National Transport Authority and Irish Rail directly to facilitate and promote local public consultations in determining local service level needs, along existing and planned future network, with emphasis on areas of forecast population and housing growth as part of and during the phasing stages of the Clonburris and Adamstown SDZ's. Particular attention to DART, LUAS and Bus extension programmes, in addressing rail underutilisation and meeting forecast target increases for improved rail usage and carbon reduction in improving service levels to meet strategic objectives.’  

The motion was adopted with amendment to read: 

SM1 Objective 7 ‘To engage with relevant agencies including the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) in relation to strategic and local transportation issues including delivery of transport projects and to encourage consultation with local communities.’ 

SM1 Objective 3 is also relevant to the motion and states: 

To support the delivery of key sustainable transport projects including DART 

and Luas expansion programmes, BusConnects and the Greater Dublin 

Metropolitan Cycle Network in accordance with RPO 5.2 of the RSES/MASP 

 Building on this objective section 7.6 of the Draft Plan ‘Public Transport’ seeks to encourage a significant shift towards public transport with an emphasis placed on continuing to work with the NTA, the statutory authority responsible for long-term strategic transport planning in the Greater Dublin Area, to focus on the delivery of:  

• Orbital public transport services linking major centres and areas of employment such as Tallaght, Clondalkin and Liffey Valley and further linking to other parts of the Greater Dublin Area; 
• Additional and extended public transport routes to service newly developed and developing areas, and existing areas where gaps in services exist; 
• Transport hubs, to connect services (such as between orbital and radial routes and/or core and feeder routes) and form a ‘web’ like network;
• Improved access to public transport stops and services; 
• Improved integration between higher density forms of development and public transport nodes.

While the NTA are the statutory authority responsible for long-term strategic transport planning in the Greater Dublin Area the Plan places a strong focus on public transport through Policy SM3 which seeks to promote a significant shift from car-based travel to public transport in line with County targets and facilitate the sustainable development of the County by supporting and guiding national agencies in delivering major improvements to the public transport network. 

This policy is underpinned by a number of objectives which aim to facilitate increased transport connectivity and provision within the County including:  

SM3 Objective 2:  To facilitate and secure the implementation of major public transport projects as identified within the NTA Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area (2016-2035), or any superseding document, including BusConnects, the DART expansion programme along the Kildare route, the opening of the new rail station at Kishogue and the Luas to Lucan  

SM3 Objective 5: To facilitate an interlinked network that maximises the efficiency of existing services, reduces overall journey times and facilitates easy exchanges between modes and routes.  

In addition to the above section 7.6.1 Bus Connects ‘the NTA programme for improvement of bus services in Dublin’ includes the following Objectives directly relating to the Adamstown and Clonburris SDZs:  

SM3 Objective 12: 

To work with the NTA to secure the expansion of the bus network to serve new 

development and regeneration areas within the South Dublin County area 

including Tallaght, Naas Road, Adamstown, Clonburris, Fortunestown, 

Ballycullen and Newcastle. 

SM3 Objective 13: 

To support new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines as a means of providing new public transport links, where rail options are demonstrated by the NTA not to be achievable over the period of the County Development Plan 2022-2028, including for the planned Metro (Metrowest) and along the Outer Ring Road and Adamstown-Citywest corridors. 

SM3 Objective 16: 

To support a review of bus corridors in the N4 environs to expand into the commuter belt towns of bordering County Kildare with a view to meeting future demand of the surrounding Lucan and Adamstown area. 

Furthermore Section 7.6.2 of the Draft Plan relating to the rail network refers to the ‘The implementation of the DART expansion programme will provide DART+ services as far as Hazelhatch on the Kildare Line, serving the developing Adamstown SDZ lands, the Grange Castle Business Park, the established areas of Clondalkin and the Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) lands at Clonburris where a community of 23,000 population is planned. The newly-built station at Kishogue will open during Phase 1B of the Clonburris SDZ Planning Scheme (1,001 – 2,000 residential units). The expansion programme will also provide an increased train frequency at Park West in the Naas Road area.’ 

Under this section of the Draft Plan and with particular regard to the content of the motion  

SM3 Objective 21: To support the opening of the Kishogue rail station to align with the delivery of homes within the Clonburris SDZ area, in accordance with SDZ Planning 

Scheme phasing and  

SM3 Objective 22: To investigate the option of an inter-county rail service stopping at Kishogue station which would provide access to new employment space at Clonburris and give direct access to the Grange Castle Business Park should be noted.  

 It is considered that the provisions of the Draft Plan and of the relevant planning schemes, as outlined above, comprehensively address this motion and therefore it is recommended that this motion is adopted with amendment to reflect that the existing provisions of the Plan as set out in Chapter 7 under SM1 Objective 7 where it is an objective of the plan ‘To engage with relevant agencies including the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) in relation to strategic and local transportation issues including delivery of transport projects and to encourage consultation with local communities’ alongside the provisions of Policy SM3 Public Transport – General which seeks to ‘Promote a significant shift from car-based travel to public transport in line with County targets and facilitate the sustainable development of the County by supporting and guiding national agencies in delivering major improvements to the public transport network’ and subsequent objectives SM3 Objectives 2, 5, 12, 13, 16, 21 and 22 are sufficient to provide for the intent of the motion. 

CE Recommendation: It is recommended that this motion is adopted with amendment to reflect that the existing provisions of the Plan as set out in Chapter 7 where it is an objective of the plan ‘To engage with relevant agencies including the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) in relation to strategic and local transportation issues including delivery of transport projects and to encourage consultation with local communities’ alongside the provisions of Policy SM3 Public Transport – General which seeks to ‘Promote a significant shift from car-based travel to public transport in line with County targets and facilitate the sustainable development of the County by supporting and guiding national agencies in delivering major improvements to the public transport network’ and subsequent objectives SM3 Objectives 2, 5, 12, 13, 16, 21 and 22 are sufficient to provide for the intent of the motion.