General Information – Page 3 of 42 – Roebuck Residents' Association

21 Jun 2023

Winners!

We’re delighted to let you know about two recent local sporting achievements.

Congratulations to the sixth class girls of Mount Anville National School who won the Cumann na mBunscoil camogie final last week in Croke Park! Local girls Orlaith (captain) and Eve were on the team and Dad Mick was a coach. A fantastic achievement!

Congratulations also to Our Lady’s Grove who celebrated a big soccer win in the FAI South Dublin Cup yesterday. It’s the first time the school has won the competition. Well done to the boys from fifth and sixth classes who made up the team, many of them local boys from around here. They played their hearts out by all accounts, despite the torrential rain!

17 Jun 2023

Mad Hatters’ Party!

To celebrate our newly planted Green (our own Wonderland), we are having our Summer party on the 24th June, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. It will be a Mad Hatter’s Party – so come with your best headdress! We will have BBQ food, teas and coffees (bring your own cup), games and great company! We would be grateful if people could bring traybakes/buns as well. We will be collecting for the Rosemount Family Resource Centre.

17 Jun 2023

Deputations – Meetings with DLRCoCo

Deputations – Roebuck Residents’ Association’s meetings with DLR County Council

You might not be aware, but committee members meet with DLR council representatives every six months in order to raise new issues/changes, or to discuss ones previously raised, with the aim of improving the area. As part of this ‘deputations’ process, we raise up to five issues/changes which the council can address. The results of previous deputations have been very successful, and have been implemented quickly by the council. Examples include bulb planting on Goatstown Road, Friarsland Road bench, narrowing of junctions, repair of footpath on Farmhill Road. We would welcome any suggestions for future deputations.

To give you an idea of issues/changes raised – as part of the most recent deputation in May we discussed the following:

Verge Trees – The Council have agreed to replace some dead trees and plant new trees in the empty spaces. We will be preparing an inventory of verge trees over the next few weeks to give to the council, so if you are aware of any dead trees, or have any suggestions for new trees, please do let us know.

Footpaths – repairs and replacements have recommenced on Farmhill Road.

Potholes – The lovely one on Farmhill Road/ Larchfield Road will be filled.

Parking/ double yellow lines

We asked for a number of double yellow lines on corners/ junctions etc. as residents have expressed concerns for children walking to school and the path has been obscured by parked cars, forcing them onto the road. All statutory road markings have to be approved by the Gardaí and in a change to their stance in previous years, they are no longer granting approval for double yellow lines within housing estates.

However, the Gardai stated they plan on enforcing ALL parking offences locally. By way of reminder, it is an offence to park:

– Where there are white or yellow zig-zag lines near a pedestrian crossing

– Wholly or partly on a zebra or pelican crossing or at pedestrian lights

– Fifteen metres before or five metres after a pedestrian crossing or traffic lights

– Where there is a single or double continuous white line along the centre of the road

– Wholly or partly on a footpath, a grass margin, a cycle lane or track or a median strip

– Within five metres of a road junction unless parking spaces are clearly marked

– In an entrance or exit for vehicles to or from a premises, unless authorised by the occupier of the premises

29 May 2023

CMH – Permission Granted

An Bord Pleanála have made their decision regarding the Central Mental Hospital SHD planning application. Permission has been granted.

There are various conditions attached. A very brief overview of some of these conditions are:

Quite a few studio and 1 bed units are to be combined to create new 2 bed and 3 bed units. These proposed amendments would result in a new total of 852 units, down from 977 units. They note that this is in line with the wishes of the Council.
One vehicle access point on Dundrum Road. (The LDA had proposed two. One where the current entrance is, and one further south, towards the shopping centre direction.). ABP are directing that only the one to the south be retained for car traffic. The other one is to be used for bikes, pedestrians and emergency vehicles.
A specification in respect of the height (1.8m) of a planted screen along the southern boundary of the area of open space at Block 4 (located at the corner of Friarsland and Larchfield Roads).
The removal of a (relatively) small three storey building to the northwest of Annaville.
Various windows to be removed, moved, some to contain obscure glazing, on blocks 8, 9 and 10, which are all on the eastern (Annaville) side of the site.
Building works to be carried out between 7am and 7pm Mon to Fri, 8am to 2pm Sat.
A piece of public art within the site is required.

The full 60 page document from An Bord Pleanála can be found online here.

What’s next? There is a period of eight weeks now where a Judicial Review could potentially be initiated. After that, the decision is set in stone, so to speak, and the LDA can move full steam ahead if they so wish.

22 May 2023

OLG – Rezoning High Court Case

The Judicial Review that two residents of The Grove took in respect of the SHD student residence development on the Our Lady’s Grove campus was successful. Although the judgement has been made and the case won, the current situation is that the Judge’s final decision regarding whether it should be sent back to the Board for reconsideration or simply quashed, is now linked to a separate High Court action being taken by the developer. Colbeam has taken a case against Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in respect of the Council rezoning the site in the latest County Development Plan.

Edit 17/9/24: The current High Court case (Colbeam vs DLRCoCo) has recently resulted in the judge instructing the Councillors to vote on whether or not the Council CEO should defend the case. This vote was passed unanimously. The case is ongoing.

17 May 2023

Goatstown LAP

The Goatstown Local Area Plan (LAP) has been officially scrapped by the Council. What is an LAP? LAPs are the furthest down the chain in the hierarchy of development plans used by the government/ Councils to determine planning rules/ guidelines in Ireland. There used to be one for the Goatstown area, however after rolling it over without updating it four years ago, the time had come, apparently, to completely scrap it. When questioned about this at our recent yearly deputation meeting with the Council, we were told some provision has been made within the County Development Plan in respect of Goatstown – in particular the inclusion of a Specific Local Objective (SLO) to designate The Goat area as more of a village centre, rather than just purely residential. So that’s it basically, our very own LAP distilled down to an SLO on a map.

The Goatstown LAP had been pretty much useless in recent years (with national legislation trumping even County Development Plans), but it was a nice dream to have while it lasted, i.e. that local development plans might actually influence development and planning in local areas. If you think this is a backward step, we recommend you contact the County Councillors.

29 Apr 2023

Landscaping Roebuck Green

The Committee are delighted to announce the next phase of our plan to upgrade the Green on Farmhill / Larchfield Road! This is due to start next week.

This is the final step in a long journey that started out in 2016. In March 2021, the first phase of development work began. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council delivered on its commitment to work with the Association in transforming the Green when it laid the new beige path, embedded 4 new benches, planted 7 new trees, introduced two grassed mounds and laid hoggin paved areas around the benches.

In keeping with the overall project plan agreed between us and the Council, the final phase will be undertaken and funded by the Association. This phase consists of planting a mixed collection of shrubs and plants that will enhance the Green further for the enjoyment of our residents. The planting, a major undertaking requiring professional expertise, will be carried out for us by Redlough Landscapers, and will take 7 to 10 days. Redlough will be retained for one year to ensure the planting beds in, and will advise our Tidy Districts Team as to how to look after and maintain the plants in the longer term.

Background note:
In our first year as an Association (2015/16), we began the task of reviving the Green by setting up a grass-cutting rota, planting flowers, painting the bench and introducing planters. Our Tidy Districts group and the Committee started thinking about what we might try to do to improve the Green in the long term. It was decided to devise a plan that would transform the Green, rather than improving it haphazardly. We engaged a landscape architect with this in mind – Tim Austin and Associates. Our plan was to create a space where people can relax and chat, rest or read, in a safe and enhanced environment. It’s called “place-making”, with the emphasis on the community living in the area, as opposed to those just passing through.

The plan was to improve and increase the seating, improve the pathway, and re-landscape the space, including some banking to be planted with shrubs, which will reduce traffic noise while adding colour and biodiversity. We are also planning to include a notice board for residents. The Committee and the Tidy Districts group went through a number of iterations of the project plan with the Council to achieve the best possible outcome for the community.

We are looking forward to a beautifully landscaped Green that will be used by the whole community for years to come.

The current Committee would like to thank all of the past committee members and the Tidy Districts Team for all their input and dedication to bringing this plan to fruition. There may be some disruption in the next few weeks but we are looking forward to a beautifully landscaped Green that will be used by the whole community for years to come.

01 Mar 2023

Local Police Forum

Local Policing Fora were established under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to provide a platform for the Community, An Garda Síochána and your Local Authority to come together in a structured way to identify issues relating to:
• Policing in your area
• Anti-social behaviour
• Estate Management

A representative from our committee attends these meetings. For more information see this booklet or click here.

20 Feb 2023

IGB – Permission Granted

DLR Council has very recently (15/2/23) granted permission for the temporary buildings for Goatstown Educate Together Secondary School on the IGB site. The Council’s Request for Further Information was answered by the Department at the start of February, and issues such as permeability were approached more to the Council’s liking.

The end result is there will be three pedestrian/cyclist entrances to the site, at Mount Carmel Road, Farmhill Road and the original entrance at Goatstown Road, with a new vehicular entrance on Goatstown Road, a little further north than the current one. There will also be a new pelican pedestrian crossing close to the current entrance.

The pedestrian/cyclist entrances on Mount Carmel and Farmhill Roads will be open 8am-9pm weekdays. The paths through the site will be fenced and there will be no public access to the open land at the back of the site. (The temporary school buildings will be located more to the front/Goatstown Road side of the site.)

You can see the Association’s observation on the RFI here.

20 Feb 2023

OLG – Permission Quashed

The two residents in The Grove who took on a judicial review in respect of the SHD student resident development on the Our Lady’s Grove campus have been successful. Justice David Holland’s judgement of 17/2/23, quashes the planning permission on four grounds:
– Open Character of site (Para 149-181)
– Density (Para 182-229)
– Daylight Analysis, SPPR3 (Para 378-470)
– Tree Planting – Commensurate Trees Condition (Para 522-591)

He adjourned to later this month the question of whether it should be sent back to the board for reconsideration or simply quashed. His provisional view was also that the couple should be awarded their costs.

Some links to media articles about the judgement:
Breakingnews.ie
Extra.ie
Irish Times