Park with intimidation issues to be re-designed and upgraded

A PARK in which almost 60 percent of people feel intimidated or afraid in has been earmarked to be re-designed and upgraded with the appointment of a consultancy team by South Dublin County Council.

A “high-level taskforce” has been created by the council to drive community involvement in the project to develop a masterplan for St Cuthbert’s Park.

A consultancy team led by Nicholas de Jong Associates, landscape architects, has been appointed and gave a briefing to councillors about the plans and steps to get to the public consultation.

In an assessment, the council stated that there is litter, dumping and antisocial behaviour in the Deansrath park with poor amenity value, lack of facilities, overhead pylons, path network and boundary treatment all listed as weakness.

However, there is believed to be potential in the park to develop a “pride of place” due to the size and scale of it, links to St Cuthbert’s medieval church ruin and biodiversity potential, among other things.

As previously reported in The Echo, issues with scrambler bikes, stolen cars, open drug-dealing and intimidation in the park have been plaguing the park.

In a survey carried out by Cllr Francis Timmons, in which 253 people answered, 58.1 percent of those polled said they felt either intimidated or afraid in St Cuthbert’s Park.

When asked how safe they felt in the Clondalkin amenity, 33.6 percent said they felt safe while 34.8 said they felt intimidated and 23.3 percent feel afraid.

As part of preliminary consultation process carried out by the council, local residents welcomed the proposed upgrade and want to make the park “a safe family friendly space”.

“Whilst the issue of scramblers has generally reduced the park is full of bags of household rubbish and broken glass. There are fire damaged footpaths and broken/burnt benches,” an initial view from a resident reads.

Welcoming the news, Cllr William Carey said: “A major element of this project involves community engagement and consultation.

“The aim is to have proposals developed to bring to Part 8 Planning stage by the end of the summer.”

Consultations are set to be held with the public over the next six weeks according to Cllr Eoin Ó Broin before the architects do a more detailed design.

Proposals will then go forward to Part 8 public consultation.

“This is a statutory (legal) framework for a public consultation for any development on council owned land,” Cllr Ó Broin said.

“People will have a number of weeks to make submissions on the Part 8 proposals.

“Finally all 40 SDCC councillors will vote on the proposals at a meeting of the council maybe in October or November.”

If local residents wish to engage with the architects, Neil and Nic De Jong, Cllr Ó Broin urges them to make direct contact by emailing: StCuthberts@sdublincoco.ie