N3 Noise Maps

Wednesday, September 24, 2008


There was an excellent response to my circular on the noise maps in August. Each County Council is obliged under the EU Noise Pollution Directive to draw up these maps and after a public consultation process set out in detail the actions to be taken to reduce noise and the time frame for delivery

Over 50 submissions were made on the Action Plan to and the majority of these submissions were made by residents along the N3. These can be viewed at noisemaps@fingalcoco.ie
The final version of the plan must be produced by Fingal County Council by 18th October 2008 and submitted for approval to the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the Council a noise monitoring network is currently being established throughout the county to validate the noise maps and this will be in operation by the end of December 2008. Under the EU Directive a local action plan for the N3 must to be produced between October 2009 and October 2010. The plan must specify a timeline setting out in detail the actions to be taken to reduce noise and the time frame for delivery.

It would seem it is open to the Council to determine what that delivery timeline will be and this is what is so disconcerting. The Council of course does not have to wait until the end of this process. The problems of the N3 have been identified and action should be taken now. Fingal and the National Roads Authority (NRA) should co-fund the construction of a wall or buffalo timber acoustic fence along the boundary between with N3 as has been done along the M50. As an infrastructural investment it should not be subject to budgetary constraints especially since it would benefit the health of so many families in the immediate area and indeed the quality of life of all Clonee.

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Furious Backpeddling on Kellystown

Friday, September 12, 2008

In recent weeks a leaflet has been circulated by the Labour Party (Joan Burton TD and Cllr Michael O’Donovan, the Mayor of Fingal) regarding Kellystown. This leaflet is very misleading. In the leaflet, it is claimed that ‘in response to a question from Michael O’Donovan, the County Manager gave an explicit commitment that no houses would be built until the primary and post-primary schools were open’. In fact, a legally binding condition (Objective KN9) was written into the Kellystown Variation from day one and was at the core of the proposal, a proposal which Mayor O’Donovan ultimately voted against ! This would have been well known to Mayor O’Donovan and indeed anyone who read the documents or attended any of the local public meetings.

It is also stated that the ‘The Labour Party tabled a number of important amendments so that any Kellystown development could only go ahead when new public transport facilities were in place. These amendments were voted down by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.’ Again this is very misleading. Indeed, two of the six Labour councillors* did not vote for the motion to which the leaflet refers. Rather, it was agreed that the Local Area Plan (LAP) would include ‘a programme for the phasing of construction of residential and commercial development in tandem with the delivery of transport, recreational, community and education infrastructure’ (Objective KN7). Moreover, Cllr Hamill (Labour) withdrew her motion calling for Metro West and Porterstown Train Station to be in place in advance of any development (Motion 16)* and a motion on bus services for the new development (Motion 19) was actually ruled out of order by the Mayor Michael O’Donovan* who also ruled out of order a motion calling for the school sites to be acquired by compulsory purchase order (Motion 2)*

Kellystown was a very divisive issue for our community. On balance, I decided that it was a good deal for the community. I fully respect that others do not share that view but do not think that any of us should respect politicians who misrepresent the facts and try to claim credit for something they actually opposed.


* Don’t know who to believe? You can watch the meeting on-line at http://www.fingalcoco.public-i.tv/site/. Of particular interest, Labour Mayor, Cllr Michael O’Donovan rules out of order a motion calling for a CPO on the school sites (1hr28), a motion on bus services for the new development (1hr29) and confirms the withdrawal of Cllr Hamill’s motion linking the development to Metro West (1hr34). Labour Councillors Kelleher and Maguire abstain on the ‘Labour transport motions’ (2hr29)

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Click Here for N3 Noise Map Submission

Monday, September 8, 2008

Click on header for my submission on the N3 Noise Maps and for other submissions see here

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Roads Update

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Other Local News:

• Fingal County Council agreed unanimously to approve the Porterstown Link Road Scheme. This involves the westward extension of the Diswellstown from the Woodbrook roundabout to access the new primary school (under construction) and the newly designated secondary school site. It also involves realigning the Porterstown Road (the road with St. Mochta’s school and the halting site) and linking it to the roundabout. This will allow more drivers to avoid the level crossings, allow access the new school sites, provide a new shorter route from the Diswellstown area to the new school and St. Mochta’s School and will link the Diswellstown Road and Luttrellstown Road (the road with Porterstown Church on it). Traffic studies have shown that this will result in a reduction in traffic on the Diswellstown and Clonsilla Roads and bypass the very slow rail crossing at Clonsilla Bridge

• As part of the scheme, a new pedestrian crossing will be provided opposite the Courtyard apartments in Clonsilla. The dangerous junction at the gates of Luttrellstown Castle (near Clonsilla station) will be realigned.

• Later in the year, the Council will publish proposals to reopen the one-way system on Clonsilla Road to two-way traffic. It has also been decided to replace the disused bus lane alongside PowerCity and Renault garage providing an extra lane for cars and to replace the roundabout at the top of ‘Fire Station Road’ with a signalised junction.

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