Flooding Update

· The village of Dunboyne suffered severe flooding on Nov 14th and 15th 2002 for the second time in two years affecting in the region of 140 homes - more than double the number affected last time. DCRA has been working relentlessly to ensure that Dunboyne will be flood-free by 2004. Initial remedial work will begin mid-June. There is an exhibition in Dunboyne Library on the proposed works and there is an opportunity to submit comments to the County Council. A second and final Consultant's report is due out shortly. It is expected that this will require major construction work to be undertaken.
· DCRA has submitted two reports to Meath County Council laying out more than twenty critical suggestions on hydrological, engineering and environmental aspects of the problem and proposing long term solutions. The County Manager acknowledged these reports as a valued contribution and forwarded them to his staff and Consultants. The final report from the Consultants entitled the Tolka Area Catchment Study is awaited and then we hope that the Dunboyne Community as a whole will en mass support a definitive solution and demand that the work be undertaken later this year.
· Housing development in Dunboyne has been a major contributory cause of flooding. DCRA has asked Meath County Council that no further development be undertaken in Dunboyne until all necessary work to make Dunboyne flood-free has been completed to the satisfaction of residents.

OUR Village

· Village Project: Meath County Council jointly funded the project with the Dublin Transportation Office and work on the village renewal plan has been completed. To give credit where it is due the scheme has been finished tastefully with the street lamps and seating and litterbins looking very well. The under-grounding of overhead cables was a major hold-up but worth waiting for. There are still a few eyesores around most noticeably the grass area on Station Road in front of the Primary School. We have lobbied MCC for the past few years to have this area properly landscaped and there always seems to be something about to happen like now there is planning permission for a new entrance to the school, but no funding, so how long more have we to endure this eyesore at the entrance to the village.
· Two Eyesores: The derelict site at the entrance to Rooske Road is still bad and we are requesting MCC have it cleaned and tidied. Site beside Spar - planning permission has been refused for a commercial development and here again we are looking to have the site cleaned and litter law enforced.
· Tidy Towns: The Tidy Towns Committee have arranged for forty hanging baskets for the village centre and would appreciate your support at their forthcoming annual collection.

Dunboyne Castle

· Menolly Homes have applied for planning permission for 587 houses and apartments, and a 121 bedroom hotel on the grounds of Dunboyne Castle following the rezoning of these lands by our local County Councillors despite strong objections from the vast majority of Dunboyne residents. The planning permission has been opposed by a number of individuals and residents associations (nineteen objections in total) and by DCRA on the following grounds.
· The Hotel development is welcome and was allowed under the previous zoning. DCRA had been promoting the concept that this Demesne be developed in its entirety as a leisure facility as has happened with most demesnes all over the country including Carton Demesne Maynooth, which has been developed as a golf course. It is vandalism to destroy such a unique part of our landscape and heritage by covering it with hundreds of houses with no facilities. This housing development will not be like anything we have seen to date in Dunboyne; it will be high density with practically no open space. Most of the open space, which should be available to the children of this estate, has already been hived off to GAA and Athletic Club in return for their support for the rezoning of the lands. Our Councillors call this a planning gain, but we ask who is the gain for, certainly not the new residents. The main beneficiaries of this Planning Gain are the owners Keepak and Menolly Homes Limited who stand to gain millions as a result.
· It is totally irresponsible to talk of building on a further 50 acres right beside the estates worst effected by the flooding before measures have been implemented to alleviate the problem and have been given time to prove they work.
· With the present traffic problems in Dunboyne, allowing for 1.5 cars per house, imagine what it will be like with an extra 880 cars to choke up our village. With an entrance onto the Rooske Road major delays accessing Station Road can be expected.
· Presently parents have great difficulty enrolling infants in Dunboyne Primary School, as it is full to capacity. With this huge increase in population many have to send their children elsewhere. You just have to look a mile down the road where the same developer had been building in Littlepace for the past seven years. Despite promises of all kinds of facilities with over three thousand houses and apartments built and a further two thousand planned they still don't have a primary school in the area.

Waste Plant

DCRA together with more than forty other organisations and individuals lodged objections to the siting of a waste plant in the village and unacceptably close to housing. Despite this Meath County Council approved the planning application, from Thorntons Waste Disposal Limited, to the great disappointment of residents.

DCRA has now lodged an appeal to An Bord Pleanala which is being considered. The work involved on this issue was extensive and was shared by many concerned residents across the community.

__________________________________

At present there are 21 Residents Associations in membership, representing 1,600 plus households and approximately 85% of the population of Dunboyne. Why DCRA?

Our Email: dcramail@netscape.net

Return to top of page