Temporary construction compound will be ‘enormously disruptive’ say residents

PLANS for a temporary construction compound in the greenfield area between Dodder View Road, Woodview Cottages and Church Lane in Rathfarnham will be “enormously disruptive”.

This is according to Woodview resident Adrian Young from the Church Lane Residents’ Association, following on from three well-attended community meetings about the plans in the past fortnight.

The greenfield site is the subject of a proposed temporary Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to facilitate BusConnects works.

In February 2020, the site was used as a temporary depot for Dodder Greenway works initially for 38 weeks, but the pandemic caused delays leading to the depot being there for more than two years.

It now houses a small compound for cycleway works, much to the dismay of residents, and the NTA’s plans would see the entirety of the greenspace being used as a construction compound.

Residents claim that there was a lack of engagement and notification from the NTA about the temporary CPO, and so the local residents’ association held three public meetings about it.

In the most recent site notice for the proposal, the NTA stated that the deadline for submissions had been extended to August 15 as the dates for the end of the inspection period and for submissions were incorrect on the original site notice.

Mr Young, who is a member of the residents’ association, told The Echo: “The proposal now is that they’ll take over the green in its entirety for a construction compound.

“They’re meant to be temporary, but we think it’ll be going on for years – it’s an enormous construction project.

“It’s being proposed that the work will take 24 months, which is pretty ambitious for any public construction project.

“It’ll be used from 7am to 11pm five-days-a-week, and all day Saturday. The site will be in use right through the evening time, in winter it’ll have to be floodlit.

“It will be enormously disruptive. They want to turn what is a lovely greenspace into a compound.”

The greenspace is in continuous use, according to Mr Young, as residents in nearby apartments and cottages don’t have gardens so it serves as a de-facto garden for them.

“The road itself is traditionally an older road with older residents, but the greenspace is used by people from all over the community,” he said.

“It’s a heavily-used space. People in the cottages and apartments use it as a garden because they don’t have back gardens.”

Mr Young added that residents aren’t opposed to the BusConnects scheme, and that their issue lies solely with the location of the compound in their area.

“We’re not opposed to the BusConnects route, we’re just opposed to the construction site,” he said.

“It’s really just the disruption, the noise, the traffic, and destroying a greenspace. It’s just really poor judgement to choose this site for it.”

He added that residents have already encountered issues with the small compound that’s on the site, particularly in relation to dust accumulation on surrounding residents’ windows and cars.

Submissions can be made on the NTA’s proposal until August 15, online at online.pleanala.ie/en-ie/sid/observation or by post to An Bord Pleanála (Strategic Infrastructure Division), 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1, D01 V902.

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