Fingal County Council is starting its Development Plan process. My submission A Development Plan for a Sustainable Fingal doesn’t try to address the full breadth of the Plan, but focusses on a few issues which need attention:

• Quantitative assessment of climate impact
• Coastal monitoring and protection of sand dunes which are natural coastal protection
• Duty of active dissemination of environmental information
• Access to the Coast, Protection and Improvement of Coastal Amenities and Biodiversity, Blue Flags
• Baldoyle and Kilbarrack Industrial Estates
• Public Rights of Way
• Active Travel, particularly to school
• Demand Management
• Sustainable Urban Drainage
• Sewage overflows and misconnections
• Asssessment of transport infrastructure options including for the South Fringe/North Fringe area

The submissions from the public at this stage of the will inform the writing of the Draft Plan, which will go to public display in February 2022.

I have made an observation to An Bord Pleanála in relation to the Auburn Strategic Housing Development proposal. It focusses on the protection of trees, permeability for walking and cycling, and building heights.

Fingal County Council is proposing to partner with a developer to build over 1000 houses/apartments at Ballymastone in Donabate. The Green councillors are recommending that the partnership agreement be amended to provide for a significant proportion of cost rental housing and a ban on the sale of housing from the development to Real Estate Investment Trusts. Our letter.

I have this motion down for the next Area Cttee on 5th May:

That the Chief Executive set out options for what can be done to tackle the serious litter problems in heavily visited areas including Howth Promenade, Portmarnock and Malahide including consideration of the following:
•Asking businesses which are selling food and drink in disposable packaging to take responsibility for the problem to which they and some of their customers are contributing, for example by emptying bins during the hours when Council workers are not working.
•Putting signs on the promenade, open space and beach asking people to return packaging to the businesses if bins are full;
•Putting bins outside the businesses which are generating the packaging;
•Extending overtime to ensure bins are emptied as late into the evening as the waste is being generated;
•Having litter wardens rostered for the times of the day and week when this problem is arising.
•Provision of compacting bins at Burrow and Claremont Beaches.

I’ve complained to the EPA that Dublin Port appears to have been dumping dredge spoil in the Bay much closer to land than it’s licence (which I objected to) allows.

The Harbourmaster and the Department of the Marine are proposing to dredge Howth Harbour and to use the material to infill behind the West Pier. These are my comments in response.

The EU is reviewing the rules on Bathing Water monitoring. I have made a submission addressing

• the ongoing failure to identify traditional and heavily used swimming locations;
• the refusal to monitor locations used for contact water sports, even where the discharge of treated effluent means there is a potential health risk to the public;
• the fact that monitoring is only over a short summer season, not throughout the year when people are actually swimming.

I have submitted this motion to the SPC meeting which will happen at 4.30pm this afternoon;

“That this SPC recommends that the Council in accordance with Regulation 5 of the Access to information on the Environment Regulations, makes information on all overflows and irregular discharges from the wastewater network which it manages known to the public by putting it online as soon as possible and that the Chief Executive report on whether any contractual agreements with Irish Water cause a difficulty for making this information available and give details of the reporting procedure and format currently used for reporting this information to Irish Water.”

Here’s the background:

The Council received a report this month on the proposed programme of active travel infrastructure for the County. This will be discussed further at each area committee, with the Howth Malahide discussion on 7th April. I would be interested in any feedback on the report in advance of the meeting.

Fingal County Council is going to provide protection to cycle lanes on Grange Road, Warrenhouse Road and Howth Road, similar to the protection installed in Hartstown, D15 and River Valley, Swords. Details are in this presentation given to the Area Cttee in January.