Adamstown Garda Clinic time change
Update 3rd February - My video was recorded in sections at different times during the week and indicated the 7:30-9:30pm hours on Wednesdays in AYCC. However these original hours have now been changed to Friday 9th and 16th of February from 11:30am-1pm. See photo below.
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SDCC General Update Reply as of Tuesday, January 23, 2024
MOTION: Councillor P. Gogarty
That the Chief Executive provides a comprehensive written update on the Adamstown SDZ progress given that the last briefing did not take place as originally scheduled and furthermore takes note of queries raised by members today that it cannot respond to immediately so that it these matters can be dealt with more adequately when the SDZ briefing eventually takes place, hopefully in the near future.
REPORT:"Adamstown Update- c4,200 homes are now completed/occupied, and c.800 are under construction as of Q3 2023.- Adamstown District Centre Plaza open- Airlie Park opened in November 2023, which provides a plethora of facilities for residents, including a cricket pitch, tennis courts, a basket ball court, full size astro turf and a pavilion café, in addition to several play and seating areas.- The proposed health centre, which has planning permission for a change of use from marketing suite to health centre under REF: SDZ22A/0012, is proposed to be located at 1 Adamstown Boulevard, the former marketing suite in Adamstown. SDCC has sought details of the future health services to be provided in the building and timelines for occupation for the next quarterly Councillor SDZ briefing, scheduled for March 6th.- SDCC submitted a proposed amendment to the Planning Scheme in February 2023, which SDCC Planning Delivery briefed the Councillors on in December 2022 and Q1 2023 with regard what was included in the proposed amendment. This was due for determination in June 2023, however no decision has been issued by An Bord Pleanála.- The delivery of the Planning Scheme has now entered Phase 6."
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Delay to An Bord Pleanala decision on SDCC application to amend swimming pool requirement
The above report alluded to SDCC's request for "minor" alterations to the SDZ scheme that would not require it to go out to wider public consultation (a process that could take a year). This included a request by SDCC which I mentioned before whereby "flexibility" would given in terms of whether the phasing would still require a swimming pool to be delivered or whether a similar infrastructural project could replace this if needed more. I am sceptical about getting rid of swimming pool plans and as such think it needs full community input rather than be foisted on people. It's another day's discussion, but I'm just keeping people posted.
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Light sequencing issues
I have mentioned a number of light sequencing issues in Adamstown to the SDZ team on the Council and hope to raise this with the developers in due course. Areas already in SDCC charge have been mentioned to the Traffic section directly. These areas brought to my attention include light changes for non-complete roads near Hallwell/Tubber Lane and The Crossings, the junction at The Crossings and Adamstown Park Road and the lights at the junction with Adamstown Avenue and Castlegate Way.
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Road markings
Coming from Adamstown Boulevard towards The Crossings there's a bus lane that turns into a left turn and a straight turn arrow. However closer to the traffic lights there is no arrow indicating a right turn, which allows two rows of cars to turn left past the planned Primary Health Care building at 1 Adamstown Boulevard.
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School issues
Because I did not get a response from the Minister for Education from earlier correspondence in relation to schools issues in Adamstown and elsewhere, I tabled a motion for the Area Committee to send a collective letter to the Department.
The Reply from the Department of Education is long and covers areas outside Adamstown SDZ so I have added it into this separate detailed rolling article here: https://www.paulgogarty.com/post/lucan-schools-info
It is disappointing they will not meet with Councillors and show no urgency in getting the new 32 classroom school built, even as parents in many of the newer estates like Hallwell, Aderrig, Tandy's Lane and Gandon Park are finding it difficult to get places due to either some schools close by not including them in the admissions area, or other schools being over-subscribed. This Government inaction needs to be called out for what it is.
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Train service reply
I raised issues regarding overcrowding on the trains serving Adamstown and the need to sort this out in advance of Kishoge train station opening around April. Two replies were received, one from the NTA and other from Iarnrod Eireann.
NTA Reply
Iarnród Eireann reply
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Airlie Park All-Weather facilities accessibility for individuals
I had queried difficulties for individuals trying to access tennis courts and to a lesser extent all-weather pitches as a group of individuals rather than teams. I suggested to SDCC that the process for individuals was unnecessarily bureaucratic and also imposed a frontal cost on some families on lower incomes who might find it difficult to pay.
Initially this was by a membersrep:
Airlie Park booking system still appears to make it difficult for individuals to join and foists unaffordable registration fee on them
Dear all,
I queried in November on behalf of a constituent wanting to play tennis that the online system wasn´t letting them do this yet. I was told that this would be facilitated within a week.I checked to see if the system is working now and - unless I have totally the wrong link - after registering with Sportskey and going to the Airlie Park Pavilion to register for this specifically, the system won´t let you register even when listed as "individual" without having to upload a form for clubs!I did this anyhow by converting pdf to jpeg and back again - something not everyone will be able to do easily. I wrote in that I was an individual, but then the system said that I had to pay a €50 registration fee!
I can see that this might make sense for someone booking on behalf of a group of individuals wanting to play 5 a side football. however I would like clarification as to why this does not make a distinction for tennis. It beggars belief that a casual registered user wanting to try out the tennis for €10 - which is expensive enough for off-peak hours - would be forced to pay €50 first, with no indication on the system whether this would be reimbursed as part of the fees paid. This appears to be ludicrous. I may be wrong and hopefully have an older or incorrect link. But please can someone confirm that I am wrong and that the system is not geared up this way. Otherwise the issue will have to be raised further.
Thanks in advance.
Cllr Paul Gogarty
Received: 31/12/2023 16:16
The Council's reply suggested that everything was fine:
I wasn't happy with this response so tabled the motion below. The written reply shows there has been good take-up in terms of pitch allocation by teams, but no information was given on the tennis courts:
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
MOTION NO.14
MOTION: Councillor P. Gogarty
That the Chief Executive reports on the uptake to date from clubs and individuals in terms of recorded use at various time slots for the all-weather pitches and tennis courts at Airlie Park and agrees to examine ways to increase bookings from the local community in particular so as to maximise access to this valuable amenity.
REPORT:
The 3G Artificial Grass Pitch in Airlie Park opened in December 2023.
There have been 28 bookings and 49 hours of usage of the facility with 18 active customers.
Clubs have been provided with allocated slots until the end of the 2023/2024 season.Â
Booking slots outside of these hours are available to others on a "first come, first served" basis.
Over the Christmas period a promo code was provided to clubs to avail of a 50% discount to encourage the use of the facility.
South Dublin has also reached out to local schools advising them of the facilities on offer and their availability during school/term times.
Because this did not mention the user of the tennis courts, I asked how many bookings were made since the facility opened on November 27th. We know there was about 10 days before individuals could book, but that meant, allowing for Christmas, the tennis courts were open for six weeks. In all that time, up to 23rd January, there were just FIVE bookings.
SDCC were keen to point out that the weather was poor, the holiday season would have affected turnout and things were just starting up, but between the €15 peak fee, the €10 off-peak, the €50 registration fee and the need to send back a team public liability form with "not a member of a team" basically written on it, I suggested there were a lot of hoops to jump through. I asked the Council to look at ways of simplifying this and making it more accessible.
I've seen the tennis court gates open once or twice since, but I'm not yet sure if this is SDCC's way of allowing off-peak access or problem with the locking system. Hopefully they will let me know. In terms of booking any facilities, you will need to go through this link: https://portal.sportskey.com/venues/airlie-park-pavilion?f=10417&id=airlie-park-pavilion&d=2023-12-05&d=2023-12-27
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Other Airlie Park News
Many people will know that the lovely Tram Café is now open 9am-5pm, seven days a week. I've been up there a few times and it has been doing well in its first two weeks. Operating hours may change in the future and the company is looking at extending opening times during the longer summer evenings.
SDCC has not yet formally responded to my request for bins in Airlie Park although there is one now installed beside the sports pavilion.
The drainage issues I mentioned before Christmas have now apparently been sorted out. If you do see any flooded areas after heavy rainfall let me know and I will report.
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No timeline given yet for Primary Health Care Centre
With an industrial dispute in the HSE, it's been difficult to get any written replies. The Council hopes to have further information on the timescale for the opening of this facility at the March SDZ briefing. It was originally anticipated that this would be open by the end of 2024, but I don't get any indications of imminent movement, which is regrettable given the need for additional GP and Public Health Nurse services etc for the Adamstown Area. I will brief further as more information becomes available.
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Community Development Grants Programme
SDCC provides a range of grants to community groups. This year's applications open on Tuesday 6th February. The Community Climate Action grants programme remains open until Wednesday 6th March, while the Community Infrastructure Fund will open around May.
I have a detailed article on these grants with links here: https://www.paulgogarty.com/post/community-grants-2024
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Adamstown Garda Clinic
There are a number of weeks to go before this is reviewed, so if anyone has any queries or issues drop up to AYCC. The event was organised for an initial six week period.
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"Bus Correct" bus user survey
Over 1,100 people have now done the survey! This will provide a large amount of credible data on the bus service in the west Dublin area to put pressure on the NTA and the Minister for Transport. However we need more people to participate. I am keeping this open for another few weeks, but then it will have to close and the data collated. Click the link here to complete this 7-minute anonymous survey. It's open to bus users of all ages: http://www.bit.ly/BusCorrect .
ENDS
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