Frustration over dirt and dust from Clonburris sites

DIRT and dust is accruing from the Clonburris Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), with residents complaining to councillors, who are frustrated with the lack of action from the council, reports Hayden Moore.

At the recent Clondalkin area committee meeting, Cllr William Carey tabled a motion calling for South Dublin County Council to insist on trucks exiting sites in Clonburris be “watered down” before entering the public street.

“This motion is borne out of frustration with what’s happening on the Fonthill Road,” Cllr Carey told the chamber, reflecting on the contractors on site having an inadequate response to dust management.

The Clonburris SDZ will see over 8,700 homes built on a 280-hectare site between Clondalkin and Lucan, providing housing for around 23,000 people.

An Bórd Pleanála approved the project four-years-ago, with the Government putting €186.3m in funding for the Clonburris SDZ.

Works have been ongoing on site over the last year, with four sites currently in active development with different contractors.

All of the sites are accessed through the South Link Street (SLS) development, which is contracted to Murphy International, by the Fonthill Road.

“In particular traffic exiting site on to the Fonthill Road should only do so after excess dirt is removed from construction vehicles,” Cllr Carey’s motion reads.

The council gave a report, detailing that the delivery team in planning has liaised with the developers on location.

“The ongoing SLS works interface into the Fonthill Road with construction of the new road alignment at the junction,” the council’s report reads.

“This means that site traffic has to cross the active site which is currently at capping level immediately prior to merging with the public road.

“This limits the available space for wheel washing before driving on the public road and for this reason full time road sweeping and dust suppression was deemed most suitable by the contractors and is in operation on a full time basis.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Eoin Ó Broin pontificated “if there’s any other roads in Ireland where it gets this dusty”.

Murphy International is the contractor for the South Link Street.

This means Murphy International “are responsible for that junction with the Fonthill Road” in question, according to Eoin Burke, senior planner from the delivery team in the council.

Mr Burke said “the issue is that actual road itself and the junction is part of the site”.

“So in the future when that has finished, it will then be the road and a junction into other sites. But at the moment, it is the site. So that’s part of how this has become difficult.”

The council has asked the contractors of the four active sites, “what are your measures?”, with Mr Burke adding “I don’t think it’s intentional, I think it’s not being implemented properly”.

According to the council, contractors on site have committed to raising how to better tackle the environmental concerns in their coordination meetings and the council will continue “liaising”.

Cairn Homes are the contractors on one of the sites, which “are back in a level from the Fonthill Road”, which is the responsibility of Murphy International.

Cairn Homes, Irish Water, and Kelland Homes need to cross through the South Link Street active development to gain access to their respective sites.

“It’s up to them to manage it, get their traffic management right and get their mitigation right in terms of the dust,” Mr Burke said.

“Yes, it is a very dusty time but the idea of having the washing facilities, they are there, they’ve told us they have a powerwasher and hardstanding there.

“It’s more the usage and implementation of that which we need to keep pushing on.”

Cllr William Carey expressed that he was “extremely disappointed that what we were talking about here is liaising with the companies”, calling for a “definitive plan”.

“I don’t think we’ve been adequate in that we’ve put in the proper structures, proper facilities to minimize the amount of dust and put in dust control,” Cllr Carey said.

“This wouldn’t be accepted in the middle of a city, it shouldn’t be accepted in the middle of the suburbs either. I’m concerned that after this meeting, we’re not going anywhere.”

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