“The Dundrum area has benefited from development over the years and there is no reason that this should not continue, but it must be done in a measured, balanced and sustainable manner”
It has become evident that the proximity of the Dundrum area to transport links such as the M50 and Luas make it a priority area for higher density development. While it is difficult to argue that this is an inefficient use of available serviced land, particularly in light of the pressures to add to the housing supply across Dublin, I firmly believe that planning decisions should be made with reference to more than just the efficient use of land.
There is significant concern among the residents of Dundrum and the surrounding areas that, with every large 100 unit+ development that is permitted to proceed, that the Dundrum area will take yet another step towards becoming an overdeveloped apartment centric community. This will further contribute to the significant and permanent alteration of the character of this once family orientated suburb. It has to be noted that thousands of apartments have been built in the Dundrum area over the past decade and that this has, in no way, been balanced by the construction of houses or other units suited to family living. There is an urgent need for suitable family accommodation and planning decisions should be prioritised towards this. We need to make it more achievable for people to raise their families in the area in which they themselves grew up.
The local infrastructure is now being utilised to capacity and cannot support many more large scale apartment developments. Pressures are bringing the roads in the area to a standstill, queues for the arteries to the city centre, access to the M50, visitors to the Dundrum Town Centre, as well as the increasing volumes of local traffic, are pushing journey times beyond an acceptable level. This is detrimentally affecting the quality of life in the area and proving to be an economic choke point for the small and large scale business in the locality. I welcome plans to add additional capacity to the Luas Green line but expect that these moves are unlikely to be sufficient in the long term. Account needs to be taken of impending future factors including the additional user traffic that will be generated by the joining of the Red and Green Luas lines, completion of phase 2 of the Dundrum Town Centre and the future requirements of tens of thousands of residents, commuters and consumers that will begin using the service as a result of the Cherrywood SDZ coming on stream.
In response to this, I have personally made written representations to the planning authorities in relation to the scale of proposed developments at both Notre Dame and Badgers Glen in Churchtown as well as Greenacres in Kilmacud. I have also put forward a motion in an attempt to prevent limited greenspace succumbing to development in Broadford. Further, in my role as the Chair of the County Transport Committee, I have requested that LUAS attend our next meeting in March to outline their plans for additional capacity.
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