Environmental Concerns re Proposed Rezoning
The members of Lucan Tidy Towns wish to express our support for the decision of the elected members of South Dublin County Council to reject the proposed residential rezoning of the lands at St. Edmundsbury, Lucan, under Proposed Variation No. 2 to the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022–2028, and to retain their existing High Amenity (HA-LV) zoning. Our objections are principally based on environmental, biodiversity and ecological concerns.
St Edmundsbury is located beside the Liffey Valley Special Amenity Area. Back in 1993 Dublin County Council passed a motion calling for the Special Amenity Area Order to be extended to incorporate lands that included St. Edmundsbury. Following the later division of Dublin County Council into separate councils, South Dublin County Council still has the responsibility to carry through this important task.
St. Edmundsbury has a unique environmental character as a landscape of the Liffey Valley. It has the potential to become part of a Liffey Valley National Park that should include both public and private lands along the river bank.
Recent Environmental Protection Agency guidance on Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) encourages planning authorities to assess landscapes not only for their visual qualities, but also for their ecological function, biodiversity, cultural heritage, green infrastructure and contribution to a sense of place. This reflects a broader understanding that landscapes such as the Liffey Valley are valuable because of the way these qualities interact and support one another.
Similarly, the Planning and Development Act 2024 strengthens the role of landscape, biodiversity and natural heritage in plan-making. It requires planning authorities, through their development plans, to make provision for the conservation, protection, management and enhancement of landscape, biodiversity, ecological networks, natural heritage and areas of natural beauty. Retaining the existing High Amenity zoning on the St. Edmundsbury lands is consistent with this clear national policy direction.
St Edmundsbury supports a rich local ecosystem of native mammals, birds, amphibians and woodland flora. Examples are - badgers, bats, herons, egrets, sparrowhawks, dragonflies, butterflies and many other species of plants and animals. It is an important location for flora biodiversity such as historic hedgerows, mature tree lines and seasonal cover like wild garlic.
Given that the Council has already identified sufficient residential capacity to exceed the Government's baseline housing requirement, Lucan Tidy Towns believes there is no compelling planning justification to remove the long-established High Amenity protection from these lands.
For all these reasons, we feel strongly that the elected members' decision to reject the motion to rezone St. Edmundsbury be upheld, and that the existing High Amenity zoning be retained.