Green Party Motions re Dublin Airport Masterplan

The three Green Councillors on Fingal County Council have submitted the following motions in relation to the Dublin Airport Masterplan which will be discussed in the Council on 12th June.
 
 

Dublin Airport Masterplan question and motions

 

Question

To ask the Manager whether the Draft Dublin Airport Masterplan has been subjected to Strategic Environmental Assessment?

 

Motions

 

That the draft Masterplan be rejected and the Manager draft a new version which is to be based on

a)      no increase in the impact of aviation through Dublin Airport on noise for residents

b)      no increase in the impact of aviation through Dublin Airport on the climate,

c)      no increase in the area of land sterilised or blighted by noise and safety zones associated with the Airport.

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That the references in the text and maps of the draft Masterplan to the Blanchardstown/Baldoyle Airport Road be deleted.

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That all references in the text and maps of the draft Masterplan to the provision of a terminal accessed from the west of the airport, associated zoinings and roads be deleted.

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That all references in the text and maps of the draft Masterplan to the provision of another runway at the airport be deleted.

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That given the impact of aviation on local residents and the climate, and in the absence of a national aviation policy, it is not the policy of Fingal County Council to facilitate further growth in aviation through Dublin Airport, and that the draft Masterplan be amended accordingly.

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That the following be included in the draft Local Area Plan:

Approach

Fingal County Council is committed as a priority to encouraging more sustainable development through energy end use efficiency, and increasing the use of renewable energy, in all new building projects in the designated area within the Masterplan.  

It will achieve this by:

·         Encouraging responsible environmental management in construction
·         Promoting sustainable approaches to housing developments by spatial planning, layout, design and detailed specification
·         Ensuring high standards of energy efficiency in all housing developments under its remit, and encouraging developers, owners, and tenants to improve the environmental performance of the building stock, including the deployment of renewable energy
·         For housing, specifically applying an improvement of 60% relative to prevailing norms as represented by the Building Regulations Part L
·         For other buildings, specifically applying an improvement of 60% relative to prevailing norms as represented by the Building Regulations Part L
·         Anticipating the operational implementation of the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) by encouraging the energy rating and labelling of building energy performance, so as to give visible recognition to such improvements.

The specific approach proposed for developers is to set a target, accompanied by a menu of design and technology options, including renewable energy technologies, as a means of offering flexibility towards meeting that target in the most technically and economically feasible manner on a case by case basis.

As an initial step towards achieving greater environment sustainability, Fingal County Council is proposing the introduction of a performance based CO2 Emissions Target (CET) for new buildings being constructed within the Masterplan.  

Targets

All new buildings within the designated area will represent a significant improvement in energy and associated environmental performance relative to prevailing practice.  The following conditions apply:

A collective reduction of at least 60% in CO2 emissions deriving from total energy usage (space heating, water heating, lighting, other) arising from all services within the development, relative to a baseline of existing regulatory and design practice.  This initial baseline of comparison is to be represented by the provisions of TGD L to the Building Regulations, 2006.  In the absence of an official national methodology for determining the energy performance of non-domestic buildings, this calculation is to be carried out using a method compliant with the draft European Standard prEN 13790.

In meeting this CO2 performance target, the development shall include:
·         A collective average reduction of at least 60% in energy consumption for all services , relative to the baseline of existing regulatory and design practice and using a methodology as outlined above; and
·         A contribution of 30% by renewable energy supply systems to meet the collective energy requirements within the development.  

To illustrate the above, using the Heat Energy Rating methodology, the baseline energy performance of new housing is typically 125 kWh/m2/year for space and water heating when constructed to the minimum requirements of Building Regulations, 2002, and using a boiler with a seasonal efficiency of 75%.  This translates into a CO2 performance of 23.7 kg/m2/year using a gas fired heating system.

Fingal County Council requires that new housing developments should achieve a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions associated with space and water heating (i.e. to below 9.5 kg/m2/year), which must include a reduction in energy use for this purpose (i.e. to below 50 kWh/ m2/year) and a contribution of at least 30% by renewable energy systems to meet the collective space and water heating requirements within the development.

Menu of options

In pursuit of these targets, a strong menu of superior design and specification options will include the following:

·                     Site layout and associated bio-climatic/ passive solar design measures
·                     Enhanced levels of insulation in walls, roofs, floors, glazing and doors
·                     Reduced uncontrolled air infiltration losses
·                     Use of healthy and controllable ventilation systems
·                     Heat recovery systems
·                     Use of daylight
·                     Water conservation measures
·                     More sustainable building materials
·                     Improved heat generation appliance efficiency, e.g. condensing boilers
·                     Intelligent heating system configuration and time/ temperature/ zone/ function controls
·                     Efficient provision of domestic hot water
·                     Fuel switching to low or zero CO2 emitting fuels
·                     Energy efficient lighting systems
·                     Incorporation of renewable energy systems, e.g. active solar, heat pumps, biomass
·                     Provision of appropriate group or district heating systems.
·                     Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and controls
·                     Electrical energy use including motive power
·                     Efficient lighting systems and controls
·                     Building Energy Management Systems
·                     Occupancy controls
·                     Monitoring and Targeting systems
·                     Combined Heat and Power (CHP).

Other measures which can contribute to the energy efficiency and renewable energy targets can also be considered.

This menu approach enables specifiers and developers to adopt approaches which are responsive to site and client circumstances and constraints, and offers the flexibility to explore and employ different mixes of options on a case by case basis, to maximise technical and economic feasibility.

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Councillor David Healy

Green Party/Comhaontas Glas

Howth ward / Dublin North East

www.davidhealy.com

01 8324087

54, Páirc Éabhóra, Beann Éadair

54, Evora Park, Howth