Category Archives: Sutton/Cill Fhionntain

Information on sewage overflows

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I have been campaigning for some years for Irish Water and Fingal County Council, who are their agents, to make information on all sewage overflows publicly available as soon as they happen. I was particularly concerned when a number of years ago we were told by Irish Water that there had been no sewage discharge at a particular location only to find out some months later that there had.

I believe the ongoing failure to make this information easily and immediately available to the public is a breach of the obligation of active dissemination in the Aarhus Convention and the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations.

I have made an AIE request for information about the sewer network and locations of discharges and overflows, as well as details of the overflows over recent years. Here’s the response:

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South Fingal Transport Study

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A South Fingal Transport Study has been carried out for the Council. (This is in fulfilment of an objective in the County Development Plan which specified the Study would include public consultation; unfortunately the public consultation hasn’t happened.)

The Study contains strong recommendations about prioritising walking, cycling and public transport in the area, and will be discussed at a Planning and Strategic Infrastructure Policy Committee meeting on Monday 28th.

Draft Bus Connects submission

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***Bus Connects consultation today Monday 17th September 2pm to 8pm Grand Hotel Malahide***

***Submission deadline 28th September www.busconnects.ie***

My draft submission is below. I would be interested in any feedback, positive or negative before I submit it.

1.Howth to city centre along the coast

The existing 31/31A service is well used. In addition to local residents and employees, including those whose trips are far from the railway stations, the passengers include a lot of tourists who might be using it instead of the Dart because of the scenic views as well as the direct access to stops on Howth Hill. The analysis carried out for Bus Connects seems to have a focus on residents’ access to work and education. It is not clear what data you are using for tourist trips on Dublin Bus.

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Further consultation on sewage plant and effluent outfall

An Bord Pleanála has written to say that Irish Water omitted documents from its application. There will be a further public consultation until 17th October. Information on this is at http://www.greaterdublindrainage.com/2018/09/07/additional-statutory-consultation-for-gdd/ . My previous submission is here.

Iarnród Éireann’s new timetable breaks some of the connections in our integrated public transport network

Iarnród Éireann have announced new timetables to take effect on 9th September. This follows a public consultation in December 2015.
I responded to the consultation then pointing out the disimprovements which would result from having trains run through stations without stopping and a lack of timetabling for connections. Unfortunately, those changes are still proposed. I have followed up with IÉ today as follows:
Many people responded to the public consultation in 2015. Unfortunately, it seems as if those responses weren’t taken into account. Is there a document summarising the content of the input received to the consultation and IÉ’s responses to the submissions?
You seem to have reduced services to some areas more than in the proposal you put to consultation. It is simply not correct to say that “Howth Junction, Clongriffin and Portmarnock will be served by fewer weekday Northern Commuter services”. The timetable which has been put online shows no diesel services stopping at these stations. There’s a considerable amount of irritation at the fact that so many trains will now be passing through Portmarnock, Clongriffin and Howth Junction without stopping and that the travel patterns people have developed in reliance on the services will not be disrupted.

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Fingal to work on improving cycling access to Howth/Malahide Secondary Schools

Following discussions with teachers in two of the local secondary schools, I proposed the following motion to the Area Committee last week:

“That the Council consults with students and teachers in the secondary schools in the Howth / Malahide Area in relation to the improvements needed in order to improve the safety of the access routes to the schools and in order to facilitate an increase in the numbers of students travelling to and from school by foot or by bicycle and a reduction in the numbers travelling to school by car.”

The motion was agreed at the meeting. I think there is a mixture of approaches needed, varying between schools. Two important aspects of this are the Green Schools Committees, one of whose targets for getting Green Flags is transport, and the potential to get students involved in solving the problems they experience cycling to school

Public information evenings and consultation about Sutton to Malahide Greenway

 

2017-09-27-19-42-13-page-001
Design work is starting on the section of the coastal greenway beteen Sutton and Malahide. The consultants have been given a brief to produce a high quality amenity greenway along the coast. It will be part of the Fingal Coastal Way, leading on from the Sutton to Sandycove route around Dublin Bay, and connecting to the route across Broadmeadow Estuary from Malahide to Donabate.

The Baldoyle to Portmarnock section was taken first and is ready to go to An Bord Pleanála and formal public consultation, probably in October.

This informal consultation will look at the sections south and north of that stretch:
-from Sutton Creek and Sutton Cross to the Green belt north of Baldoyle and
-from the Sluice River south of Portmarnock to the railway line at Malahide Estuary.

The purpose of the information meetings is to set out the scope of the project and to start the discussion with local people and visitors of the issues, challenges and opportunities in designing the Greenway. All are welcome.

The dates and venues are:

  • Tuesday 17th October 1530 to 1930  – Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links
  • Wednesday 18th October 1530 to 1930  – Malahide Library
  • Thursday 19th October 1615 to 1930 – Baldoyle Library

Design problems on Kilbarrack to Sutton coastal promenade

In May 2015 I proposed this motion:

“That the Chief Executive and Council remove all obstacles on the Coastal cycle route from Sutton to the Kilbarrack Road and bring forward a senstive design for providing lighting to the shadowed area of the cycle track and to remove the hazard posed by steps which cut into the track.”

Since then I have heard of collisions on the route due in particular to the lighting problem. Last month, April 2017, i raised the issue again:

Councillor D. Healy – Kilbarrack to Sutton Cycle Route. AI036623
“That the Chief Executive report on progress in relation to addressing the design flaws in the cycle route from Kilbarrack Road to Sutton including lighting, obstacles and steps as discussed at this Committee in May 2015 and October 2016.”

Report:
The cycletrack is due to be widened in the coming months by altering the lining. The bins will be moved out of the cycletrack and on to the footpath. The lining will be designed around the larger poles and the steps to guide bicycles around them.

Minute:
Following discussion Mr. Stephen Peppard, Senior Executive Officer agreed to have the potential issues around the lighting examined by the Public Lighting Section and that further discussions would take place with the Traffic Engineers regarding the steps.
If you have direct or indirect experience of the difficulties caused by the current design, please let me know.