Councillors “baffled” by lack of council plans to follow through on revamp of Clonsilla

After years of waiting, and more than a year of work, the council a year ago published a plan for how to do up and revitalise Clonsilla village. 

That plan envisions eight key projects, including a cycling link along the Clonsilla Road, and bringing back Lohunda Lodge as a community centre, with an outdoor public space that could be used for markets, and a playground. 

Once the 70-page document, the Clonsilla Framework Plan, was approved, the next steps would be to do detailed designs for each of the projects in it, and then get planning permission for them, a council staffer told councillors last January. 

The plan was published last May, so almost a year later, Sinn Féin Councillor Angela Donnelly asked for an update from council staff.

She’d like a report on “on any active travel plans associated with the Clonsilla Framework Plan, in terms of work undertaken to date and timelines for the implementation of a new cycle route on the Clonsilla Road”, said her motion at the Blanchardstown local area committee meeting on 2 April.

In a written response, Linda Lally, a senior engineer in Fingal’s Infrastructure and Transport Department, told her that her department has “no current active travel projects associated with the Clonsilla Framework plan”.

At the meeting, Fine Gael Councillor Siobhan Shovlin asked if the council had made any progress on “any aspect of this framework”? Even “tidying up signage and poles and all those kind of things”?

“Ummm,” said Paul Keane, a council engineer who was at the meeting via videolink. Then there was a long silence. Five seconds ticked by.

“The, yeah, I mean, the elements that can be delivered on sooner rather than later obviously they will be the priority things once we have it in the capital plan,” Keane said. “It’s not in the capital plan currently, you know, so we’re not in a position to deliver on it right now.”

Councillors at the committee meeting Friday were incredulous. 

“I don’t quite know what to say,” said Donnelly, the Sinn Féín councillor. “I’m absolutely baffled.” 

“A huge amount of time, a huge amount of time  and discussion went into the Clonsilla Framework Plan,” she said. “And I’m wondering why we all went to the bother to be honest.” 

Said Labour Councillor John Walsh: “I am a bit taken aback by the statement that there’s no immediate plan for it.”

And Shovlin, the Fine Gael councillor said: “I’m really taken aback by the response that there are no plans.”

Fianna Fáil Councillor Eimar Carbone-Mangan, chairing the meeting, said she was “slightly confused” herself, and asked for a fuller report from council staff on the issue at a future committee meeting. 

How soon is “immediate”?

The introduction to the plan says that “Framework Plans are advisory in nature, providing a long-term vision for the future”.

But it has a section identifying “Immediate/ Short Term Priorities”. 

These include, “rationalisation” of bollards, railings, and lampposts, and putting wires underground. As well as adding more greenery, bike parking, and lighting.

Among “Medium and Long Term Priorities” are a redefined village centre, new “gateways” at either end of the village announcing to visitors that they have arrived there, and new active travel links.

It is unclear what the council’s definitions of “immediate”, “short-term”, “medium-term” and “long-term” are. 

But Keane said work on the items in the framework plan is not included in the council’s current capital programme, its multi-year budget for big once-off projects. The current version covers the years 2026 to 2028.

In terms of the big cycle route through the village, “it is not in the capital programme currently but I guess in time it’ll arrive in there”, Keane said. 

But, said Shovlin, the Fine Gael councillor, “I thought we would move with some elements of it, especially the ones that would be a little bit easier to do”.

“I know Clonsilla Tidy Towns are very interested to see, like, at what stage any element of this Clonsilla Framework Plan is at,” she said.

This is when Keane, the council engineer, appeared to indicate that there were no plans to progress any element of the plan at the moment.

Donnelly said she understands it’s a framework plan, “it’s non-statutory and that’s fair enough, but my idea of producing this framework plan was to have a blueprint of how we progress with enhancing Clonsilla village”. 

Instead it looks like the council is using it as “an outline to refer to should future work be considered”, Donnelly said. “I think we need to make sure it’s not just filed away in some file cabinet somewhere.” 

Another focus

At the moment, the big active travel project the council is focused on that goes through Clonsilla is the Royal Canal Greenway, Lally’s written response to Donnelly said.

Fingal’s Royal Canal Greenway is one piece of a larger project to develop a cycle route between Dublin and Galway, connecting the River Liffey in Dublin city to the Shannon in Longford.

Each section of the greenway is moving at a different speed, with Dublin City Council preparing the fourth and final phase of its own work, covering 4.2km of the route between Ashtown and Phibsboro.

Fingal councillors had been told, at one point, that the planning application for Fingal’s section of the greenway would be submitted to An Bord Pleanála in the third quarter of 2023.

Then it was pushed back to late 2024. 

Then to the second quarter of 2025. 

Fingal’s current capital programme, for 2026–2028, foresees €100,000 in spending on that project in 2026, €800,000 in 2027 and €12.3 million in 2028.

That document, dated 13 October 2025, says “The project is currently at preliminary design stage and agreement on the revised design has been reached with all relevant stakeholders.” 

“Following completion of the preliminary design, all the required documents including the Environmental Impact Assessment Report will be prepared for a planning application to An Coimisiún Pleanála in Q4 2025.”   

At the Blanchardstown local area committee meeting on 2 April, Keane, the engineer, said “hopefully that’ll go to planning in the next few months”.