Over 7,000 submissions received by council for proposed village green works

Source: Page 12, Echo Newspaper Thursday 31/3/22

by Maurice Garvey (maurice@echo.ie)

IN EXCESS of 7,000 submissions were received by South Dublin County Council for the Part 8 proposed works at Lucan Village Main Street and green.

It is considered an "exceptional" amount of submissions for a Part 8 by senior officials in the council and amongst representatives — reflecting the huge amount of interest people in Lucan have with regard to proposals for their village.

The 7k figure includes two separate petitions by local businesses objecting to the proposals as they stand, which garnered some 2k names.

Of the 460 or so public submissions made online, and available to see on the council website, approximately 75 per cent are against the proposals — loss of car parking spaces a primary concern.

A vote on the proposals is scheduled to take place at a full council meeting in early April, however, opponents want this to be deferred to a later date, due to the high volume of submissions, and the recent deadline which was March 3.

Cllr Vicki Casserly (FG) is calling for the final vote to be extended to a later date so the "unprecedented" amount of submissions can be "fully digested".

"Not one person in Lucan is against investment in the area, but the problem is the design is wrong, no heed has been paid to the impact on local businesses and people who shop there," said Cllr Casserly.

Cllr Casserly also queried if the process had "adequate consultation" with a lot of businesses unaware of an early Zoom meeting with the council, and also expressed concern about "skewed figures" in the plans with regard to parking spaces, and the village green which the Methodist Church currently have a lease on.

Cllr Joanna Tuffy (Lab), is one of the only reps to publicly back the proposals, stating an "organised campaign" has been selective in whom they targeted.

"People were asked for submissions, not to sign a form. While people are entitled to do that, the forms gave people one aspect to focus on, a lot of people wouldn't know a lot of the changes in the plans, like the number of wheelchair friendly spaces and safer footpaths," said Cllr Turfy.

"Residents were targeted in areas like Lucan Heights, Beech Park, but they didn't go to Griffeen Valley, Adamstown, Pennyhill. "There was no converse campaigning for people who walk or cycle to the village, or people coming in from Griffeen Valley, Earlsfort, Foxford. It was a very organised campaign but nobody was doing anything on the other side. "This is not a popularity contest. As a Cllr. .1 have to do what 1 think is right."

Michael McAdam Senior Engineer with South Dublin County Council, said: "A report from the Chief Executive for the Lucan Village Gm an

d Main Street Part 8 is under preparation and it is currently proposed to take this to the April Council meeting for decision. "1 can confirm that there was in excess of 7,000 submissions, this includes two separate petitions which totalled over 2,000 names. This is an exceptional number of submissions for a project of this scale."

Over 7k Submissions

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