Council Briefs: Greening in Cabra, New Traveller housing, and more

Greening in Cabra

Dublin City Council intends to plant new trees and thousands of plants along Faussagh Avenue in Cabra this year to green a “concrete jungle”.

At a meeting of councillors for the council’s Central Area on 14 January, Iva Geci said the council has identified six locations along Faussagh Avenue, where it will dig out paving slabs to make way for 25 trees and around 5,000 plants.

The council will also give householders plants for their front gardens, said Geci at the meeting.

The aim is “to enhance the quality of life for both local residents and visitors through greening” and make “a more attractive neighbourhood”, says the council’s draft greening strategy for the area.

Local councillors welcomed the report, saying they had been pushing for just this.

“Some of us have been waiting a long time to see efforts go into this concrete jungle that we have in Cabra,” says Social Democrats Councillor Cat O’Driscoll.

She asked if the council could add seating too. Geci said she would look into whether there is space for seating. “I think that would be a great idea.”

“This is a real positive for this area,” said independent Councillor Cieran Perry. He asked if the budget was in place for the works.

The money is there, said Geci.

Several councillors asked when it would all happen.

The council plans to start consulting with community groups soon and then go to public consultation this year, said Geci.

All going well the works themselves could be completed in 2025 too, she said.

The council report says the council has planted 1,600 trees across the city since 2017, as part of 200 greening projects.

If this new greening initiative is successful, the council will look at rolling it out in other locations in Cabra, said Geci.

New homes at Cara Park

Dublin City Council has put forward plans to build nine new homes at Cara Park, a Traveller accommodation site in Belcamp.

There are currently 41 homes on the site.

The council’s proposal is to demolish the existing, disused community centre and training facility buildings, and to build seven three-bedroom houses and two two-bedroom houses, said John Flynn, a council senior architect, at the meeting of the North Central Area Committee.

Flynn was at the meeting to tell councillors they were kicking off the first stage in the council’s internal planning process, known as Part 8.

Councillors welcomed the development. “I’m glad that we are at this stage,” says Green Party Councillor Donna Cooney.

She asked whether other improvements are planned to the public realm in Cara Park. Like, whether the council would build a play area for children.

“Public domain wasn’t actually part of the brief for this particular project,” said Flynn.

The pressure is on to deliver more homes, he said, and there are no other improvements planned to the estate as part of this project.

“The long awaited and long overdue development,” said independent Councillor John Lyons.

The council failed to deliver any new homes under the last Traveller Accommodation Programme, he said.

There is such severe overcrowding that young Travellers are being pushed into settled mainstream housing. “I welcome these but we have a lot more work to do,” said Lyons.

For many years, there has been a massive industrial-scale illegal dump near Cara Park.

When that is removed, the council should provide community and play facilitates on the site, said Lyons.

The area manager, Derek Farrell, said there is a plan to do that.

Once the council has removed the dump it will consult with all local residents including those at Cara Park, he said.

“We’re looking at possibly, astro-pitches, tracks, playgrounds and landscaping,” said Farrell.

Greener commercial rates

Dublin city councillors on the finance committee have agreed to keep looking into the idea of offering lower rates to city businesses that invest in measures to lower carbon emissions.

At a meeting on 16 January, councillors on the committee agreed their work priorities for the next five years.

Victor Leonov, acting finance manager, had suggested that the council drop its proposal to look at a way to vary rates for businesses which take action on climate change and biodiversity.

“It’s not something that we have developed,” he said at the meeting.

The council should look instead at how it funds its climate action measures, said Leonov.

But Aidan Sweeney, head of infrastructure and environmental sustainability at the business group Ibec, said that at the moment if a business invests in solar panels, it increases the value of their premises and drives their rates up.

He suggested a scheme to exempt those businesses from increases for a few years, so as not to discourage businesses from taking action to make their premises more sustainable.

Independent Councillor Nial Ring said that if buildings are carbon neutral, the owners should be offered lower rates.

“I’d be inclined to leave it in,” he said. “We have our own city climate action plan, so maybe it could tie in there,” he said.

Councillors agreed to examine the issue further.

Leonov said he would look at whether the council has flexibility within the legislation to do that. “If it’s not possible, it’s not possible.”

The committee also agreed to look at a number of other things, including to campaign for more sustainable funding models for councils.

And to regularly review how the council is faring in collecting what it is owed, including by tenants, city businesses, and other government departments.