At yesterday’s North Central Area Meeting (Monday 16th May) I proposed a motion calling on DCC to carry out a transport assessment and a social infrastructure audit for the Oscar Traynor Rd. site. This 17 hectare site is part of Dublin City Council’s Vacant Land Initiative. It is the city’s biggest development at present with 655 housing units and a retail centre planned for the site. The development of the site needs to informed and appropriately managed so as to ensure we have both a sustainable development and potentially negative impacts for the local communities surrounding the site are mitigated against.
Housing in the area is absolutely needed, there is no question about that. However, Dublin City Council need to take and lead and prepare the site so as to ensure the end result is a sustainable community with appropriate amenities, facilities and proper traffic management. At present such preparation is not forthcoming. Indeed, there seems to be a significant reluctance on the part of DCC to conduct the appropriate preparation. I am calling for a transport assessment and a social infrastructure audit to be carried out to support good planning – making key preparations simply cannot be left to those who win the contract to develop the land.
Transport Assessment
When you look at the current traffic issues in the immediate you’ll see that the Oscar Traynor Rd. and the Dundaniel Rd. are highly congested at peak hours. If traffic from the 655 units planned for the site are added to this the roads surrounding the area will be at a stand still. This will have a negative knock on effect on those commuting into the city from the M1, residents in Santry Court, Aulden Grange, Woodlawn, Larch Hill, Dundaniel Rd and the Castletimon estate. A transport assessment will identify such issues and will be able to make recommendations to mitigate against them.
Social Infrastructure Audit
There are 3 primary schools in the immediate area, including Gaelscoil Cholmcille adjacent to the site which is currently seeking to expand. An obvious question to ask is whether there be enough places for additional children coming into the area? Another vital requirement is childcare facilities – there are none in the immediate vicinity. The master plan has provision for a large passive park. However, the area needs an active well thought out park with designated football pitches, basketball court, a pavilion area for residents to be active and for local schools and clubs to use. These basic needs can only be captured through a social infrastructure audit – once identified deficits can be planned for.
We cannot just wait to see what the developers come up with in their plans – DCC is the only authority that can take the lead so as to ensure the new community that will be developed on the site will fully integrate with and support the current local communities around the site.
Text of motion – passed Monday 16th, North Central Area Committee
Motion in the name of Cllr Alison Gilliland
That Dublin City Council take full responsibility for funding, conducting and disseminating a 1) Transport Assessment and 2) Social Infrastructure Audit on the planned development of 655 units on the vacant lands on the Oscar Traynor Rd. That
a) these assessment /audit be initiated as soon as possible
b) this responsibility is detailed in any tender briefs/documentation with regard to the lands.
c) DCC will use the resulting reports for each assessment /audit to inform the facility, amenity, public services, traffic and transport requirements for the development of the site so as to enable a sustainable, fully serviced urban community.
d) plans be drawn up by DCC, where appropriate in conjunction with any developer that may win the tender, to address any deficits identified in each assessment/audit
e) these plans operate in tandem with progress on the development so as to realise a sustainable, fully serviced urban community, to minimise disruption and knock on negative impacts to the local communities surrounding the vacant lands development.
Cllr. Alison Gilliland 