Council plan meeting over Airton Road parking space

Council staff have agreed to arrange a meeting with the managers of a residential development on Airton Road to discuss solutions to parking shortages.

A major influx of residential traffic from the new 230-unit Airton Plaza development, and the prospect of further residential developments further along the road, is causing tension between new residents and businesses along Airton Road.

Cllr Mick Duff (Ind) led the calls for council staff to meet with Clúid Housing, who manage the Airton Plaza development, with a motion asking them to “discuss the potential usage of retained commercial spaces by tenants, as the shortage of spaces is causing great difficulties for tenants”.

Speaking on his motion at the Tallaght Area Committee meeting on Monday, January 26, Cllr Duff said many residents had been in contact with him and highlighted the issues caused by the parking shortages and ongoing works along Airton Road.

“At the present moment Irish Water are doing major roadworks down there – that already sends cold shivers up my spine because Active Travel is going to come after that – and what are we going to do then with all of those parking spaces the full length of the Airton Road, where are they going to go?” he asked.

“It’s a problem for dealing with now,” Cllr Duff said, adding that he had read the reply from John Hegarty, senior engineer for road design at South Dublin County Council, and that council staff “were going to do your best to solve it”.

His motion received wide support from other councillors at the Tallaght meeting, who said they had also heard from residents of Airton Plaza over parking issues.

In his written reply to Cllr Duff, Mr Hegarty said that council staff would meet with Clúid Housing to discuss parking management at the Airton Plaza development and “in particular… all parking allocations at the development including the commercial element within the development”.

He noted that in the planning application it was agreed that 184 parking spaces would be provided for 328 apartments in the Airton Plaza development, 230 of which are managed as cost-rental homes by Clúid Housing, an approved housing body (AHB).

“This is a parking ratio of 0.56 parking spaces per unit… this is a low parking ratio, but the figure is not the lowest levels granted in the Tallaght electoral area,” he said.

Speaking to councillors at Monday’s meeting, Mr Hegarty said he had already met with one of the managers of the development from Clúid, who was “preparing a plan to see what options he has”.

“His options are pretty limited because they [Clúid] have rented a certain number of spaces off the developer in an agreement,” he said.

He also said the council would look into “parking hubs” or “overflow parking” in place within the Airton Plaza development as a temporary measure until planned public transport links were established along the Airton Road.

“As the public transport comes through, we can then repurpose that,” he said, noting that these links have not “come through as quickly as we would’ve thought”.

Mr Hegarty also said the manager “would talk to the developer in relation to the small number of commercial spots available” though that could prove difficult as these are due to be sold.

He also noted a point raised by Cllr Jess Spear (PBP-S) who said she had been contacted by a resident of Airton Plaza whose partner had only recently become disabled and was having difficulty in obtaining a disabled parking space within the development.

“There should be a proportion of disabled spaces, a minimum number, that said if more tenants become disabled then Clúid should be managing that aspect of it, they should be adjusting that.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme