BCC News November 2014

Update Nov 1^St

Following the very successful public meeting held by Balrothery Community Council in September where many issues arose, the singular message coming from the concerned residents was that the village could not accommodate more development and any further building or construction without feasible facilities and upgrading of very poor infrastructure, road and pathways could not proceed.

A Meeting between Executives from the Operations Dept. Fingal County Council & Balrothery Community Council, was held Tuesday October 21^st and was attended by County Councillors Cllr Tony Murphy, Cllr Grainne Murphy and Cllr Malachy Quinn. The meeting was preceded by a walkabout tour of Balrothery Village, identifying the concerning areas, highlighting pedestrian and traffic issues and illustrating the lack of spending and poor provision of facilities following many years of development seeing the village grow four fold in 15 short years from 130 dwellings to 630.

Of worrying concern it was noted that on several occasions’ delegates from Fingal County Council Operations department referred to Balrothery as a ‘Town’ and were duly reminded by the Chair, Niall Keady that Balrothery was a village.

One of Balrothery Community Councils key objectives is the revisiting and updating of the existing Local Area Plan. Delivering a comprehensive action plan to address the concerns, hopes and aspirations of the community of Balrothery.

A selection of immediate concerns & hopes raised at the meeting with local representatives and executives from Fingal County Council.

1. Reopening of School Lane and other public right of ways.
2. Provision of Cycleways, Paths & laneways, to accommodate access to Playing Fields, Rugby & Cricket Clubs, Hamilton Care Facility, Wavin Lake and Ardgillan Demesne.
3. Lack of playgrounds, community areas.
4. The extension of Resource centre and community development of adjacent lands.
5. Traffic Calming along Darcystown Rd, Man O’War Rd, Maddens Hill.
6. Junction to Skerries/Man O’War and junction at foot of Maddens Hill.
7. Parking: lack of public & residential parking

Either no funding or zero budget was cited as the reason for not being in a position to deliver. Whilst the executives noted the selection of projects and issues were laudable, several projects and issues were classified as the responsibility of the Planning & Building Department of Fingal County Council and not the remit of the Operations Dept. The full extent of what they are currently in a position to provide are a few small repairs and the possible extension of the paths on Maddens Hill. Most of the concerns were noted as reasonable requests, there simply was no funding available to allocate to them and the onus was on the community to press their local representatives to ensure more funding was made available. There was also a general consensus from all parties in the room that as things stood it was agreed there was a lack of facilities and that roads & paths required upgrading to accommodate the increase in pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Since the overdevelopment of the village the current infrastructure and facilities were not sufficient and further development and building could not be justified.

Balrothery Community Council are now calling for an urgent meeting with the executives of Fingal County Council Planning Department. We have also called for a Delegation Meeting with Fingal County Council Executive & Councillors. The Community Council have invited our local councillors, both area TD’s and Senators to join their November Community Council meeting. This will be followed by an AGM and Public meeting in December where progress to date and strategy going forward will be on the agenda.

The Community Council are enthused by the fantastic work done establishing two important new committees for Youth Services & Tidy Towns.   Balrothery will be entering the National Tidy Towns competition next year after some years of absence due the development works in the village.

Fundraising will begin immediately and we are delighted to announce a Quiz Night will be held in the Balrothery Inn on November 21^st, we really hope the community will get behind this event and attend in as strong numbers as the resent public meetings, there will also be an opportunity to recruit volunteers for both Tidy Towns and Youth services. The Balrothery Inn have offered to hold this year’s Christmas Draw in aid of the Community Council the proceeds from the Quiz night and the Christmas Draw will be shared between both Youth Services and the Tidy Towns.