Council Briefs: Pushing for faster housing in Dunsink, pop-up CCTV, and interrogating delivery drones

“7,000 homes”

Fingal County Council needs to seriously look at how it can speed up housing on two of its big land banks, said Solidarity Councillor Ruth Coppinger at an area meeting on 5 September.

She put forward a motion calling on Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly to report on a plan to fast-track social and affordable homes at Church Fields, where builders are midway through constructing hundreds of homes in phases – and also at Dunsink.

And, the motion said, “to also outline in this report what infrastructure and funding is required to progress this”.

“In my view, housing overrides every other concern in this country and in this area,” said Coppinger at the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart/Castleknock/Ongar Area Committee meeting.

In a written response, officials said that Church Fields was already being delivered bit by bit. So far, 171 social homes have been built, and 240 are being built while work on another 217 is due to start in 2024, they said, “and the initial design has commenced on the remaining Phase 4 lands”.

Meanwhile, Dunsink – where the council owns more than 1,000 acres – is part of a “Long-Term Strategic Reserve”, said the response.

They’re working to procure a consultant to draw up a plan for the lands, which will include an infrastructure audit, costings, and consultation, it said. That’s in line with the development plan, said the response.

Coppinger, and other councillors, weren’t content with that though – focusing in their rebuttal mostly on the Dunsink lands.

The Dunsink landbank is massive and there’s no major impediment to developing it, said Coppinger. “We should look at developing it quicker than was the case in the development plan.”

Fine Gael Councillor Ted Leddy said he essentially agreed with Coppinger’s motion.

Councillors have been told Dunsink is a 20-year project, he said. But “why 20 years? Why can’t we make it a five-year project?”

He wants to see concrete  ideas on how to speed it up, he says – like applying early for money from the government’s Serviced Sites Fund to prepare the land and getting procurement done earlier. “I think this committee needs to come up with specifics.”

Dónall O’Ceallaigh, a senior executive planner, said that the council foresees around 7,000 homes on the lands at Dunsink.

A feasibility report showed no large impediments, he said. “We have committed to the development of the area, it’s a huge priority for us.” The procurement process for the consultant to do up the statutory plan is advanced, said O’Ceallaigh.

Coppinger said she was happy to hear that councillors agreed with her motion, and asked for a roll-call vote. Fourteen councillors voted in favour of her motion and one, Patrick Quinlan of The National Party, abstained.

Dumping blackspots

There’s a blackspot for illegal dumping at the entrance to Tolka Valley Park near Mulhuddart Bridge that could really benefit from CCTV, said Breda Hanaphy, the Sinn Féin councillor, at the area committee meeting.

Can the council put it up there? she asked.

Councillors were enthused at first by a written response from Grainne Carroll, a council administrative officer.

Carroll said that to put up CCTV, the council needs to set up an “approval committee” to oversee privacy and the code of conduct for its use.

It’s most likely that CCTV is going to be put up in a covert way for a set period, she said. “The site will be given consideration when the choice is to be made.”

That’s much better than past responses, since councils had to stop using CCTV before new legislation came in,  said Fine Gael’s Ted Leddy.

“Everybody has got a few places where we think we need this,” said Leddy.

Hanaphy asked to be kept updated on when the approval committee is set up.

But John Daly, a senior engineer with the council, sounded notes of caution. He listed ways in which – while the council can now use CCTV again – it isn’t straightforward or always, in his view, going to help tackle illegal dumping.

The environment department has to follow a code of practice, which includes producing a data-protection impact assessment, he says.

The code of practice is quite onerous, he says. “It doesn’t seem too keen on covert CCTV, so it’s promoting signage and things like that.”

Also, he said that the council will still find it challenging to identify and find people who are dumping illegally on foot.

They can fine people based on a number plate on a car under the Litter Pollution Act, he said, “which is quite a strong power”.

But in cases where people walked to dump it, CCTV might not help too much, he said.

Also, there’s restrictions on how long CCTV can be kept up, he said. They’ve had one in Ward River Valley Park, but they’re not sure if they’ll be able to justify keeping that up for a long period, he says.

Daly had looked at the Tolka Valley spot, he said. Whether CCTV would work depends on the kind of dumping, he said, and it didn’t look like somewhere it would work particularly well.

Hanaphy, the Sinn Féin councillor, said she disagreed with that assessment.

Chasing drones

In recent times, Labour Councillor John Walsh has had more representations from constituents about delivery drones than anything else, save for housing, he said at the 5 September area committee meeting.

He asked for an update on planning enforcement action taken by the Fingal County Council after landing pads and infrastructure for delivery drones were put in at the Clonsilla Inn and at Junction 6 on the Old Navan Road.

It was the owner of the Clonsilla Inn who was issued the enforcement notice, rather than the drone operator Manna.

Manna meanwhile has maintained that it doesn’t need planning permission for its take-off and landing pads.

At the area meeting, Walsh said there seems to be a vacuum in planning law around drones. “About where drone landing strips can be set up and under what conditions.”

Walsh said he had told representatives from Manna, who operate the drones, that if they avoid planning, they also avoid public consultation and there’s no input from people. If there’s an application, the council can decide it, yes, no or put conditions, he said.

“I think there’s a much wider issue with effective regulation that we need to address as councillors,” he said.

Mary McCamley, a Labour councillor, said she has a motion down for the full council asking that drones be included in the development plan in a variation.

They put provisions around data centres in the current development plan, she said. “Now, we need to put in drones. So we can regulate at times, where they go and where they don’t go.”

She was told the other night that the next landing pad would be in Dublin Industrial Estate near Glasnevin, she said.

Asked Tuesday if this was true, Manna CEO Bobby Healy said, “We are moving our offices and manufacturing there”.

Will there be a drone landing pad there too? “No plan as yet,” he said, but “Glasnevin is in our list of locations for next 12 months”.

At the meeting, Fearghal McSweeney, administration officer in the planning department, said the council is pursuing both of its current planning enforcement cases vigorously.

His understanding is that the drone-related infrastructure is being removed from Clonsilla Inn, he said.

They’re at an earlier stage with the Junction 6 rig, he says. They issued a warning letter on 19 August after a complaint, and the recipient has four weeks to respond.

The warning letter cites installing infrastructure “for launching and landing unmanned aerial vehicles without the benefit of planning permission”, he said.

Walsh asked if it is being argued that there is no infrastructure, that drones can land and take off without that – and if so, does that mean there’s no need for planning?

“Or is the fact that they’re taking off and landing still a planning issue?” he said. Would a “change of use” be involved? said Walsh.

That wasn’t clearly answered. McSweeney said answers would depend on the specifics of applications.

Coppinger, the Solidarity councillor, had a motion to invite in the management of Manna to talk to the committee. Councillors agreed.