Enterprise Week - An Overwhelming Success
We Deliver We deliver 13th October 2015 • Volume 22, Issue 36 • Leader House, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. EirCode: K67 P5W4. • Tel: 01 8•400•200 • info@northcountyleader.ie • www.northcountyleader.ie
Concerns Over Proposed Social Housing Site All parties agree that the provision of social housing in the North County is of critical importance. However, the proposal by the County Council to build 25 social housing units, 21 houses and four apartments off Rathbeale Road in Swords, is causing concern for local residents from a safety perspective. The site, which is owned by Fingal County Council, is located on an area of 1.21 hectares to the west of Swords.
By Patrick Finnegan It is bounded by the R125 Rathbeale Road to the west and the private housing estate of Bunbury Gate Avenue to the east. Residents from this estate are very concerned that the site is unsafe for people accessing it and also for motorists approaching Swords from Ashbourne. The proposed entrance and exit to the development consists of a hair pin bend at the top of an incline and at the entrance and turn-in point of a right hand bend. The County Leader spoke with a group of Bunbury Gate residents, who outlined their concerns. Spokesperson, Martin Blake said, “The site as it stands at the moment is unsuitable for development and a lot of remediation work is needed, in order to get it to a condition where it is suitable to build houses. Nobody is against social housing being built here, as we all recognise the need for them. The access is completely unacceptable and unsafe in its present state. We have already highlighted our issues to the County council,” he said. The residents say that there is no line of vision for traffic leaving the new estate onto the busy R125 from
Pictured at the Rathbeale Road entrance to the proposed site for 25 social housing units, are concerned Bunbury Gate residents, Robert Cope, Martin Blake, Siana Harte, Ken Foley and Clara Coffey. They are concerned that the entrance will cause a major traffic hazard to people accessing the site
Swords to Ashbourne. Similarly, the junction will be extremely hazardous to traffic travelling towards Swords, which is coming out of a severe dip in the road, with little or no visibility of the potential hazard of traffic accessing the R125 in front of them. In poor weather and road conditions the effect will increase exponentially resulting in a risk of a vehicular collision, or a vehicle colliding with the existing boundary wall with Bunbury Gate Avenue,” they claim. Martin Blake continued, “The turn into the estate will
be a main road. It means that two roads will be running parallel, which is only divided by a hedge. The Council are calling a building regulation called ‘Permeability’ where they don’t want to build a boundary. Instead, they want to open it all up. We’re saying that if they do that, it’s unsafe, as there will be two busy roads side by side, with children roaming around in a dangerous setting. “We need a boundary wall, similar to the one planned for at the social housing scheme in Balrothery, where a
This year’s Fingal Enterprise Week ran from 5th to 9th October and it was the most successful and biggest one to date. It was packed with opportunities for aspiring local entrepreneurs to network and boost their businesses, local businesses and start-ups from across the region made their way to numerous events. More than 1,600 entrepreneurs attended 30 dynamic business events, workshops and networking opportunities, along with mentoring clinics which all took place during the week. Pictured at the ‘Fit for Business’ seminar, which took place at Malahide Rugby Club, as part of Enterprise Week, are Oisin Geoghegan (Head of Local Enterprise), Claire Keohane (Irish Rugby 7s player), County Mayor, David O’Connor, Dublin GAA star and entrepreneur, Bernard Brogan, Paul Reid (Chief Executive Fingal County Council) and celebrity Trainer and entrepreneur, Karl Henry. See more pictures of Enterprise Week on pages 10, 11 and 12
planner there recommended a boundary wall, 2.2 metres high to get rid of any safety hazards. The key issue for us is that the access is unsuitable and unsafe. If they go ahead with the plan, the Council will fail in their duty of care, and we feel there will be a serious road accident there,” he said. Local councillor, Joe Newman (NP) who was contacted by the residents said, “I’m fully supportive of top quality, well managed social housing units. Regarding the safety issues, I made representations on behalf of the residents to the Council at a local area meeting last Thursday. I received some assurances that the safety issues at the Rathbeale Road site would be dealt with. A number of other councillors and I have asked for management to come back with some more information regarding the lay out, before we can fully endorse the project going ahead. As regards the Cllr. Newman boundary issues that the residents have requested, the Council have given assurance that they will provide fencing arrangements to create the boundary.” “I have also raised concerns about the lack of footpaths for children trying to access the nearby schools in the area, which needs to be addressed,” he said. The County Leader contacted the County Council, who replied regarding concern at the position of estate entrance from a traffic safety point of view and about claims that the entrance breaches TO 48 of County Development Plan. (access off national primary routes). The Council said, “The position is that shown on the Mooretown/Oldtown Local Area plan. It is the development of an existing entrance, rather than a brand new entrance. TO48 refers to National Roads, while TO49 applies to regional roads, including Rathbeale Road. Both TO48 and TO49 refer to individual accesses, not new junctions. The urban area is extending along the Rathbeale Road and the new junction is acceptable,” the statement concluded.