Proposals to make village more attractive and a people friendly environment
Scheme plans to transform Tallaght Village
PLANS for an enhancement scheme to transform Tallaght Village into a “lively, welcoming, and flourishing destination” are being fast tracked by the council, reports Ellen Gough.
The first in a series of public consultations will be held next Monday and Tuesday, October 13-14, for the public to contribute and share their views on making Tallaght Village “a true centre piece for the community”.
The scheme aims to “create a safer, more attractive, and people friendly environment by improving traffic flow, improving walking and cycling connections, and creating a highquality public space”, according to South Dublin County Council.
“By prioritising public realm, the project seeks to deliver a village centre that is easily accessible, refreshing, and capable of supporting local businesses, and community activity.”
According SDCC senior engineer Gary Walsh, the scheme for Tallaght has had to “jump the queue in terms of village enhancements in South Dublin”, due to the upcoming BusConnects Dublin – Tallaght/Clondalkin to City Centre.
“The village is a little bit tired and it’s very disjointed,” he said. “It’s just been delivered haphazardly and all of a sudden we’ve just ended up with a mishmash of schemes and designs.
“We just want to take a step back and see what we could deliver and do a plan that ties it all in together and actually looks right at the end.”
There will be two presentations and workshops from 6pm on Monday, October 13 and 11am on Tuesday, October 14, at Priory Market in Tallaght.
Tallaght residents are invited to drop in and discuss the scheme from 1pm to 6pm on Tuesday, followed by a final presentation and workshop at 6pm that evening. Anyone wishing to attend please email TalVES@sdublincoco.ie with your preferred time.
The council plan to take the feedback from the public from the consultations being held in the Priory Market on October 13-14 and develop it into five different plans, which Gary described as a “do nothing” plan to a “very extreme, pedestrianise everything” plan, and others in between.
They then plan to workshop these five plans with another series of public consultations in mid-November this year, with a view to getting a Part 8 consultation “to be fully approved by councillors in Q1 of next year”.
Despite the ambitiously short timeline, Gary said the council will not be “cutting corners” on the scheme.
“We want to get the word out [with the public consultation] and get people involved and engaged, because the worst thing is when people come to a scheme too late in the day to change anything,” he said.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
