COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF CLONDALKIN, NEWCASTLE, RATHCOOLE, SAGGART AND BRITTAS AREA COMMITTEE

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

QUESTION NO.1

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

To ask the chief excecutive will SDCC to forward a complete copy of The Vision for Clondalkin document (formulated by local people and presented to SDCC in 2022) to the consultants the SDCC Management has engaged to draw up the Local Area Plan for Clondalkin as part of the Council's new Development Plan? All the local Council representatives agreed with the contents of the Vision for Clondalkin document. Will the consultants report to the Local Area Committee on the progress regarding the Vision for Clondalkin document?

REPLY:

The Vision for Clondalkin document prepared by Clondalkin Vision Alliance was received by the Planning Department in June 2022. At that time the County Development Plan was in the process of being adopted and preparatory work on the Clondalkin Local Area Plan had not commenced. The work and thought that went into the document is acknowledged.

The process for Local Area Plans is set out in Planning legislation and in planning guidelines. In essence, there is an informal stage of preparation which is not time limited before a draft plan goes out on formal public display with subsequent decisions made by elected members at Council meetings within a set timeframe.

At this time, very early preparatory work on the LAP is being undertaken by the planning department to gather background data and conduct land use surveys.  In addition, procurement for consultants is underway to ensure that the necessary cross disciplinary skills to meet the requirements of QDP14 Objective 3 in the County Development Plan will be available to the Planning Department. The draft LAP will be prepared by the Planning Department with specialist input from the relevant consultants, and with public and stakeholder consultation a key consideration informing the plan making process.

A facilitator is currently being procured to help the planning department to engage proactively with the public. It is anticipated that the first stage of informal consultation will begin later in Q1 of this year, followed by a further round of statutory public consultation later in the year.  The vision document referenced should be put forward so that it is on formal record, as part of the local area plan public consultation process. It will then be reviewed alongside any other views gathered from the public and other stakeholders. This will provide for a greater level of transparency in the plan making process.

The planning department will work with the facilitator to ensure that the public consultation reaches as many people as possible in its design. Councillors will be engaged in the process of preparing the Local Area Plan and updates will be brought to the SPC, the ACM and the decision on the plan will be taken by full Council. The public and other key stakeholders will also be kept updated on public consultation events in due course.