An area of land opposite Lucan Sarsfields/Goodwins has been zoned for residential development as part of the Clonburris Strategic Development Zone. This parcel of land is bordered by the Newcastle Road to the west, the future extended Griffeen Park to the east, the railway line to the north and the canal to the south. The parcel of land is the unshaded area within the red lines in the map below.
As there is only one access point via the Newcastle Road, medium/high density residential development on this land will lead to additional traffic on the Newcastle Road. Lucan is already providing vast tracts of residential zoned land for future housing in the Adamstown and Clonburris Strategic Zones, which equates to 50% of all residential zoned land within South Dublin County Council.
During the drafting of the County Development plan, I proposed that this land should be zoned for Enterprise facilitating the development of an Enterprise Park with the potential of providing local jobs for the Lucan area. This was to ensure that Lucan has sustainable development including opportunities for enterprise and not solely residential. The flow of traffic to an Enterprise park would generally be in the opposite direction to residential traffic at peak times and therefore have limited impact on the highly congested Newcastle Road and surrounding areas. This parcel of land would be more suited for enterprise as it would be detached from Lucan and existing communities but adjacent to existing business parks including Grange Castle.
Below is my motion submitted during phase 2 of the County Development Plan review.
MOTION NO. 13
MOTION: Councillor L. O’Toole
That this council zone the Adamstown marked area between the railway, canal, Newcastle Road and Griffeen park as Zone EE:
To support the necessary and needed infrastructure within neighbouring Grangecastle with small to medium sub-supplier business’s, to support job growth within Adamstown and Lucan to meet the objectives / Ethos of nearby Adamstown where residents both work and live in the area reducing need for transport. Currently the Adamstown development has employment primarily in service business’s such as shops, cinemas etc but little in the way of small manufacturing or other businesses.
Area should not be zoned residential because:
This area is isolated by park from Clonborrris with no easy access. It will be neither in Clonburris nor Adamstown or Lucan where families will struggle with school placements etc.
The Newcastle road is already gridlocked and Adamstown has yet to be built out (8k housing units). The natural flow of traffic is not towards Newcastle but rather down to the N4.
Area should be zoned Enterprise and Employment because:
It will Create local employment opportunities
Fulfil the shortage of offices for small to medium enterprises in Lucan
Enterprise would have less impact on the Newcastle road than a residential area
Increase the use of the cycle network therefore reducing amount of traffic commuting in and out of Lucan which would also reduce traffic in the Lucan area.
The proximity of Grange Castle will allow small indigenous technology and service companies to feed into the multinational companies within Grange Castle.
A landscape EE area would complement the adjacent Griffeen park allowing a landscape aspect from the Newcastle road to the Griffeen park and vice versa
Co sponsored by Guss O’Connell and Paul Gogarty
The motion did not pass in the form above and I had accept significant amendments which allowed for open space within the residential area including 1 full size playing field. After the public submissions are made, the plan will be reviewed again and there is still a chance that the land can be zoned for Enterprise or another non-residential use.
It’s very important that submissions are made from the public to ensure that every opportunity is taken to design a plan best for our County and most importantly providing what is needed for Lucan and Palmerstown.
If anyone needs assistance with submissions please contact me
Click on the following link to make your submission
https://secure.southdublin.ie/DevPlanSubmission.aspx
The closing date for submissions is 24th September 2015.