Second written objection to the proposed rezoning of the St Edmundsbury lands

To who it may concern,

I am writing today to make a second objection to the proposed rezoning of the St Edmundsbury lands, conscious that this most recent rezoning effort, having not been carried by SDCC elected representatives in recent months, aims to likely allocate at least some of these lands from HA-LV (High Amenity) to Res-N (New Residential).

Whereas I understand the need for SDCC to provide for sustainable housing supply, I believe a decision to rezone these particular lands of unique character will be to the detriment of future generations of those who will live and raise their families in the vicinity of Lucan village.

My objection is twofold, considering both the practical consideration of where I live at present in Esker Park, Lucan, and also relating to the historic fabric of the village of Lucan, the area I grew up in and have chosen to raise my own children in.

1. Matters relating to traffic congestion

Traffic congestion at peak times is widespread in the greater Dublin area and is a feature of an enlarging population that, to some extent, is unavoidable. However, longstanding entrenched traffic backlogs continually present in Lucan village have not been adequately addressed by SDCC in recent years. As is well established at this juncture, Lucan village, from the Lucan Road all the way down Chapel Hill and over the Strawberry Beds, is plagued by back-to-back vehicular traffic during peak hours. To date, SDCC has not ensured the provision of adequate road infrastructure or advanced an intra-agency dialogue to make firm plans for light rail or Luas connectivity into the vicinity of Lucan village and the subject lands. I feel that I have a fair measure of the situation not being in keeping with any acceptable or reasonable plan for traffic flow. At peak times, it can take me twenty-five minutes to commute from my house to get onto the Lucan Road from the Ballyowen Road. With the latter item in mind, redevelopment of these lands will eventually lead to far higher traffic volumes on both approaches to Lucan Road at peak times, further elongating commuting times for those using public transport and private vehicles. This scenario, if it arises, is completely unacceptable.

2. Duly considering the historic fabric of the subject lands

Separate from traffic considerations, the documentation that SDCC has prepared regarding the amendment of the South Dublin Development Plan 2022-2028 doesn’t include a substantive assessment of the historical nature of the subject lands and their impact on adjoining lands, which by any fair measure would have been a large factor in originally designating the area HA-LV. Considering the solemn responsibilities of SDCC to assess rezoning appropriately, it is, at the very least, disheartening that this amendment has been put forward based on reports from engineers and surveyors with little intrinsic links to this historic area. For context, as a child and into my teenage years, I would have spent countless hours walking, playing on the land that sweeps from Chapel Hill down to the Liffey and across the subject lands. It is essentially what makes my sense of place, wrapped in all the history of that area. Should this rezoning be allowed to proceed, it will constitute the dismantling of a large element of the fabric of old Lucan.

In summary, my formal objections as detailed above include:

1. The rezoning of the land constitutes a completely unacceptable increase in traffic on roads feeding into and out of Lucan village in all directions.
2. SDCC documentation publicly available for the South Dublin Development Plan 2022-2028, while likely meeting statutory guidelines on the provision of minimum information, does not demonstrate a sound, appropriate or thorough analysis of the historic value of these lands.