Dunboyne Combined Residents Association
Home - About DCRA - Contact DCRA -Archive - News- Politicians Directory - Planning - Environment - Links Page - Newsletters - DCRA Meetings - Soapbox - Waste & Recycling
Submission to Meath County Council on the Draft Integrated Area Action Plan for lands East of the Railway Line in Dunboyne: 12.03.04
Introduction
Firstly we must restate our total opposition to zoning-development of these lands as shown by Dunboyne residents in their submission of 2,300 letters of objection to Meath County Council at the Draft and Amendment stage of preparation of MCC Development Plan 2001 and also registered by some 700 residents who attended a public meeting In Dunboyne Community Centre in September 2000. However we will adapt a positive approach by putting forward our ideas which hopefully would lead to improving the plan. The idea of an IAAP is a major improvement on the piecemeal way that development took place in the past with estate added on to estate, and minimum overview for the whole area. The inclusion of an eastern relief road through the IAAP lands from Clonee road, linking to the Northern Bypass road around Dunboyne is to be welcomed. It is our considered view that these lands should not be zoned for development. Should a decision be taken to zone these lands no development should take place until certain key infrastructures and facilities are provided.
Re-opening of Clonsilla/Dunboyne Rail Line.
Under 4.2.0 of IAAP it states "The Navan rail line reuse/upgrade has neither
been allocated priority nor funding within the Strategic Rail Review. Any upgrade
is extremely unlikely to happen before 2010.The rail line has been developed
over in a number of locations."
At 4.2.2 it states "A pre-feasibility study into the development of the
Dublin to Navan rail line (October 2003) has been produced by FGS consulting
on behalf of Meath County Council. This report confirms the Strategic Rail Review's
main finding that Navan Dublin rail line is not prioritised for investment"
and it states that reopening this line cannot be achieved prior to the development
of a new rail station at Spensor Dock which will not take place until 2007 at
the earliest.
At 4.2.3 it states "It is currently Iarnrod Eireann's view that a service on the line out to Dunboyne would not be commercially viable."
It would be premature to zone-develop these lands in advance of the reopening
of the rail line as it would lead to…
· Huge increase on daily traffic gridlock on Clonee road (R156) and on
to the N3 to the city.
· New residents locating in the Action Area lands in advance of the rail
line reopening would develop travel patterns, almost inevitably by private car
which is not sustainable. Travel habits once developed are difficult to change
were the rail line to reopen later. The alternative option to develop the housing
and rail service in tandem would allow new residents to locate and plan their
travel on the basis of a good public transport service being in place.
Roads Infrastructure
Work on the Clonee/Dunshaughlin section of the proposed M3 should be completed and the Ring Road West of Dunboyne should also be completed prior to the rezoning of any further lands for development in Dunboyne.
Flooding
Dunboyne has had a flooding problem for many years, the most recent been the November 2000, and November 2002 floods. Many residents are convinced that building houses on flood plains over the past ten years has greatly aggravated the problem. When Larchfield estate was planned local residents and others alerted the planning authorities in objections, that these lands were prone to long periods of flooding annually and should not be built on. These concerns were ignored and the result 80% of the new houses in Larchfield have been flooded since. What is even worse many of the residents living across the Castle River from Larchfield have also been flooded since. The Castle River overflow which previously flooded the Larchfield site were now diverted across on top of their homes. The same attitude to flooding seems to have been taken by the authors of this IAAP when it is stated at 4.6.6 without any back up facts that on completion of the alleviation works "flooding will not be an issue within the Action Area nor will this potential problem be deferred somewhere else."
Figure 4.6.2.1 on page 30 of IAAP shows quite a considerable flood area along
the Castle River south of the Clonee Road, it also shows substantial flooding
of the Tolka River all the way along the eastern boundary of the Action Area
lands north of Clonee Road. We feel this draft fails to address the effect of
rapid run off of rainfall from development of these lands.
While we hope the current flood works will prove successful we are of the opinion
that a reasonable period should elapse to allow ample time for the new measures
to be tested and proven to have been adequate. That time lapse would give a
clearer picture of the possibility of the rail line reopening.
On 01.03.04 DCRA made a submission to Meath County Council on the "River Tolka Flooding Study - Final Report" and we ask that it be considered in its entirety as an essential part of this submission.
Strategic Green Belt
The Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area (1999) recommend
that the Planning Authorities within the region should identify 'Strategic Green
Belts' in their statutory development plans to protect the areas outside of
the identified development centres from excessive development and to secure
a clear distinction between urban and rural areas. In the proposed Material
Variation of the Meath County Development Plan 2001, which was moved in January
2002 a Draft Green Belt Strategy stated "The Dunboyne-Clonee-Blanchardstown
Area will continue to experience significant pressure for development, and requires
Green Belt areas for the following reasons: Provide Green Belt between Dunboyne
and Clonee to avoid coalescence between two settlements (as zoned for expansion)
there is only a distance of 500 metres between the two."
Two years have elapsed since publication of the Draft Green Belt Strategy and
to date Meath County Council have failed to adapt it into the County Development
Plan.
Any further development on the eastern (Clonee) side of Dunboyne would leave
this slender green belt totally useless, and seriously dilute the strong community
spirit and identity of Dunboyne.
As stated in paragraph one of this submission the residents of Dunboyne have made it clear that they most strongly object to development East of the rail-line. The IAAP document completely ignores this even though DCRA met the Consultants involved and this fact was made clear to them at the time. We now ask Meath County Council to decide in accordance with the EU principle of Subsidiarity and so to respect the expressed wishes of Dunboyne residents.
For Dunboyne to retain its identity there would have to be strong guarantees incorporated in the county development plan on retention of a Strategic Green Belt in the Dunboyne-Clonee-Blanchardstown area.
In the event of this IAAP being adopted by Meath County Council we propose the following suggestions be incorporated in the plan.
Access Across the Rail Line
7.3.11of IAAP states "the location of the rail line between existing residential development and the Action Area lands reduces the potential for the long term inter-connectivity between new development and the town." We feel there will be adequate pedestrian access to the town via the bridge on Clonee Road (R156) , also via the primary movement corridor (eastern distributor route), via the new bridge over the rail line between cell 1 and 2, and along the Dunshaughlin road (R157) . The distances between any of these access points are only a few hundred metres, and we feel it would be ill-advised to encourage/allow pedestrian access across the rail line prior to its reopening, as with all established routes it may be difficult to curtail such access once the rail reopens. There are serious safety implications especially for children and young people in attempting to cross the rail line once in operation. We feel provision of pedestrian bridges across the rail line would be strongly opposed by existing residents from the point of safety, loss of privacy and unnecessary intrusion in their estates. With the provision of a new primary school in IAAP lands and local and neighbourhood centres the need for access to the village will be much reduced. Presently children from Millfarm estate attending Dunboyne Junior and Senior Primary Schools are not allowed access across the grounds of St. Peter's College and must access from Station Road. As the grounds of St. Peter's College are enclosed with a six-foot steel railing no access to the town is possible across their property.
Preservation of Trees and Hedges in IAAP lands.
To help retain the rural aspect of Dunboyne it is important that the existing hedgerows on both sides of Clonee Road be preserved, allowing for access to the proposed distributor road. As the amount of hedge involved is relatively short we also recommend that sufficient land adjoining this road be retained open space-leisure uses and to retain the greenbelt/rural aspect of the local environment. There are also specimen hawthorn hedges in the IAAP lands which should be preserved as features where possible.
Open Space
Under 5.6.12 of IAAP it states that the existing open space in Dunboyne (ie. Lands zoned F1) in the current development plan to provide for and improve open space for active and passive recreational amenities comprises 18 hectares. It then states we already have an average of 3.36 hectares per 1,000 population, whereas it is claimed the generally recognised standard is 2 hectares per 1,000 population. It then goes on to state the projected population increase of 4.637 from 5,363 currently to 10,000 in 2011 will only require an additional 2 hectares open space in the Action Area lands and other lands already zoned. This is an amazing calculation, and infuriated both residents associations, and sporting organisations' representatives at our recent meeting. This is developer driven policy and an insult to existing residents. The following need to be clarified in regard to residential open space in Dunboyne.
1. Each existing estate were allocated their quota of open space as part of the planning permission for those estates, they purchased their houses on the basis that the said open space was primarily for the use of residents of that estate.
2. There is no Parks Department in Meath County Council so open spaces in residential estates are maintained solely by the residents. Through their efforts both manually and financially in cutting grass, tree, shrub and flower-bed planting and maintenance. Now this IAAP informs us that we must make our open spaces available to future residents in the Action Area lands. Residents will not accept this scenario. This appears to be a devious attempt to massively reduce the open space requirements in the Action Area lands thereby further increasing our suspicions that this draft document is biased towards the advantage of developers and against the interests of present and future residents.
Sports and Recreational Facilities
Local community organisations including St. Peters GAA Club, Dunboyne Soccer Club, Dunboyne Ladies GAA Club, Dunboyne Scouts, Dunboyne Athletic Club and Dunboyne Boxing Club were represented at a recent meeting organised by the DCRA to consult with them on the Draft IAAP. They fully backed our position on not zoning these lands. They were astonished to discover that the IAAP states at 5.6.11 that "Dunboyne has an adequate provision of sport and recreational facilities for its current population". This information certainly was not gleaned from consulting the groups listed, whose current facilities are as follows.
Dunboyne Ladies GAA Club
This club currently has 130 registered members. It caters for ten teams ranging from under-10 up to senior level. They have no pitch of their own and have to depend on the use of St. Peter's GAA Club pitch when available, or a pitch at St. Peter's College where they have neither toilet facilities or changing rooms.
The girls have to change on the side of the pitch, and visiting teams arrive
from as far away as Seneschalstown or Moylough to be told there are no basic
facilities available. Because of the lack of a pitch the club must concede home
advantage in
many of their games. Last year one team had only five home games out of a total
of twenty eight for the season .
St. Peter's GAA Club
St. Peters GAA Club caters for 32 teams from under-10 up to adult level. Their present facilities are one playing pitch and clubhouse which they own on the Rooske Road, and one pitch which they rent (Tom's Field), which is without any dressing rooms. This is totally inadequate for a club of that size. They have a promise of two pitches in the Castle lands. At the moment they can't cope with the demand for training and games, and are facing having to restrict juvenile training, which will place their teams at a serious disadvantage. Should the population of Dunboyne increase as stated in the Area Action Plan the number of playing pitches will have to be increased accordingly.
Dunboyne AFC
Dunboyne AFC have over 600 members including over 500 players and cater for 39 teams from under-8 up to adult level. Presently they have 4 full-sized pitches and 2 junior pitches on the Summerhill Road, where they have invested over half a million in improvements in the past two years. Because of the high level of demand on their pitches they spend 12,000 Euro annually to maintain them. Expert advice on pitch maintenance received recently is that if they continue to play more than three matches per fortnight the maintenance costs will rise to 20,000 Euro per pitch. The club therefore requires additional pitches or they will have to downsize, ie turn away some of their existing players. If the population of Dunboyne increases to 10,000 the number of players are likely to double, and it is essential that lands be allocated to provide facilities for these children.
1st Meath Dunboyne Scout Group
This group caters for 250 members, and their facilities are a den on a small
piece of land on the Rooske Road. They require additional land (rough land would
suit) for scouting activities camping etc.
Presently they must travel some 25 miles to Donaghadee , and pay to avail of
scouting facilities because of land shortage locally. As with the other groups
demand for their services will increase in proportion with population growth.
Dunboyne Amateur Boxing Club.
This club caters for sixty members ranging in age from ten to twenty five years old. They have no permanent clubhouse and have a waiting list of young people wishing to join, but have to be turned away because of a lack of resources. Demands for their services here again will increase in line with population growth.
Other services required in a new Dunboyne of over 10,000 population.
· The current part time Garda Service in Dunboyne would have to be increased to a 24 hour service for a town of this population.
· Other essential services include provision of a swimming pool, children's playground, playing pitches including all-weather, youth centre and scout facilities.
· The current street cleaning service would have to be increased to a daily service as applied in towns of that size.
· The old water tower at Boylan's Bridge on Clonee road (R165) be preserved as a feature in the development as an example of industrial archaeology. The line of mature trees on either side of this bridge should also be preserved.
· The old redundant sewage treatment works at Beechdale estate should be removed and the area landscaped.
Conclusion
Finally our position is that we are opposed to development of these lands but as a fallback position we suggest the above ideas as an improvement to the IAAP.
We ask that Meath County Council commission an holistic Environmental Impact
Statement on the effect that the proposed development of IAAP lands would have
on Dunboyne as a whole.
End