Council Briefs: Revamping Portobello Harbour park, building affordable housing in Ballymun, and protecting Moore Street

Finalising the new Portobello Park

At Monday’s monthly meeting of the full Dublin City Council, councillors agreed the final designs for a new park at Portobello Harbour.

The space is set to include a play area, new trees, planting and a small deck with seating facing the water. It will be a shared space for walkers and cyclists.

Councillors welcomed the plans, which have been a long time in the works.

“It seems everything this council touches takes ages,” said Fine Gael Councillor Danny Byrne. “I just ask that we get on with it.”

Les Moore, the council’s head of parks, said the plan reflects the in-depth consultation the council did with the local community.

Some councillors flagged concerns raised by the National Transport Authority (NTA), about sharing space between walkers and cyclists.

“Older, mobility impaired and vulnerable users, including visually and hearing impaired and parents with young children, tend to avoid shared spaces due to safety concerns,” said the NTA, according to a report to councillors.

Green Party Councillor Claire Byrne welcomed the plan for the new park, but said the council needs to monitor the shared space, which has caused issues in other areas including Grand Canal Dock.

“This is going to require really effective signage and close monitoring, to avoid cyclist and pedestrian conflict,” she said.

Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn said that the local community were very involved in the plan. The new park will benefit the whole city, he said. “These are good things to do and exemplary things to do.”

Green Party Councillor Michael Pidgeon asked if cycle lanes through the park could be introduced later if they were needed.

Moore said that the NTA raised an issue around the greenway as a shared space for cyclists and walkers, but he doesn’t think there will be any problem. “These things work very well,” he said. A cycle track can be installed later if necessary, he said.

Both disability activists and cycling advocates have said they’d prefer to have segregated spaces, and not shared spaces.

Several of the submissions to the public consultation also raised the issue. “High volume cycle routes and shared spaces are a bad idea for everyone,” one said.

Flynn, the independent councillor, asked if pedestrians have priority at Portobello Harbour. “If I bring children to the park and they are wandering around I don’t want them to get a bang of the bike?”

Said Moore: “The essence of a shared greenway is that people share the space and you have to be respectful of other users.”

The council discussed access with disability organisations, he said. “We are satisfied that it will work in terms of a shared space.”

On Moore Street

Developer Hammerson has paused its legal challenge to the council’s decision to add buildings on Moore Street to the record of protected structures, councillors learnt at Monday’s meeting.

Hammerson dropped the judicial review proceedings because An Bord Pleanála granted it planning permission for its proposed development on Moore Street, said Yvonne Kelly, the council’s legal advisor.

So the developer doesn’t need to fight in court anymore for permission to knock the Moore Street buildings it wants to knock, because An Bord Pleanála has now given them that permission.

Buildings on Moore Street have historical significance because the leaders of the 1916 Rising used them to shelter in after they fled the GPO. The question at issue is which ones.

The strip at 14–17 Moore Street is a national monument and protected. But in June 2021, councillors voted in favour of adding a longer swathe, from 10 to 25 Moore Street, to the record of protected structures.

This clashed with Hammerson’s plans, which included knocking 11 to 13 Moore Street except for the party wall between 12 Moore Street and 13 Moore Street. An Bord Pleanála approved these plans on 9 September.

Hammerson intends to build a new public plaza, shops, offices, cultural space and apartments on land it owns from Moore Street Terrace to O’Connell Street, also bounded by Henry Street and Parnell Street, over the next 15 years or so, in several different phases of development.

On Tuesday, James Connolly Heron, a spokesperson for the Moore Street Preservation Trust, said that in his opinion An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission to demolish protected structures, as 10 to 25 Moore Street should be protected following the council vote.  They are considering a judicial review, he said.

At the meeting on Monday, Kelly said Hammerson dropping its legal challenges “a good news story. It means that the elected members’ decision stands.”

But Sinn Féin Councillor Micheál Mac Donncha said that the Hammerson challenge is on hold, not abandoned. And the main issue is that it has planning permission, he said.

“The overall story is not good because An Bord Pleanála has rejected the appeals against the permission granted to Hammerson, which would destroy much of Moore Street,” he said.

Said Green Party Councillor Donna Cooney: “Perfectly good buildings on Moore Street and Henry Street are going to be knocked down.”

On Balbutcher Lane

On Monday night, councillors also voted through plans to build 138 affordable purchase homes at Balbutcher Lane in Ballymun.

The council project involves terraced, two-storey houses, with 82 three-beds and 56 two-beds, according to a council report.

People Before Profit Councillor Conor Reddy said he was not against it. But “these houses have to be genuinely affordable”, he said. “A discount on the market rate, in a market that is overheated and gone mad, isn’t affordable for anybody.”

There’s a shortage of school places in local primary schools to contend with too, he said.

Fianna Fáil Councillor Racheal Batten said she welcomes affordable housing but that the council needs a plan to provide community services, school places, and medical services too.

“If we are going to continue on doing large-scale developments in the area, we need a plan for how we are going to provide the community services,” she said. “They don’t just come after.”

Already, this “site 14” was set aside for affordable housing in the local area plan, said Michelle Robinson, acting director of housing operations with the council.

The Department of Education was consulted for the local area plan, said Robinson. She isn’t aware of it developing any new sites for schools in Ballymun, she said.

Robinson couldn’t say how much the new homes would cost as the council has not yet tendered for a builder, she said. They will come under the Affordable Housing Fund legislation, she said.

“It is incumbent on us to make them as affordable as we can,” she said, “and that is what we will be doing throughout the process of securing the delivery of these homes.”