Development plan · South Dublin County Council
South Dublin County Development Plan 2022–2028 – Written Statement
The council's development plan written statement: its strategy, policies, objectives and development standards. Variations adopted since are not in this text.
South Dublin County Council · 2022–2028 · 584 pages
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- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028158Green Infrastructure (GI) GI6 Objective 10: To continue to protect and promote existing allotments and provide for new allotments where feasible in accordance with a review of the provision and management of allotments across the County. GI6 Objective 11: To support appropriate human engagement including the sensory experience of rivers and waterways, through access to viewing points and fishing spots, having regard to the primary need for environmental and biodiversity protection. 4.2.5 Landscape, Natural, Cultural and Built Heritage Natural, cultural and built heritage is concerned with the range of natural and manmade assets of heritage value in the County. These include areas of importance for biodiversity, such as watercourses, woodlands and cultural assets such as important monuments, buildings and landscapes. Natural heritage plays an important role in defining the character of South Dublin. The County contains a diverse range of landscapes that are both important ecological habitats as well as areas of natural beauty. The foothills of the Dublin Mountains, the river valleys of the Dodder and the Liffey and the Grand Canal are part of South Dublin’s natural, cultural and built context and contribute to the County’s setting and character, as well providing important recreational uses for residents (See Landscape Character Assessment, Appendix 9 and Chapter 3: Natural, Cultural and Built Heritage). The County’s heritage also presents an opportunity to attract more visitors and tourists to the area on account of its amenity and beauty. The GI Strategy recognises the plurality of the values and aims to provide for the protection of South Dublin’s heritage while ensuring its sustainable management and utilisation. Natural, cultural and built heritage also contributes to placemaking at the local level. People have a cultural and emotional attachment to their natural environment. It helps us interpret and connect with our communities and contributes to a sense of place and community cohesion. Local heritage features, such as a small park, a collection of trees or even a line of hedgerow may not immediately appear to be important in the context of the wider County, yet such features help define our communities and peoples experience within them. South Dublin’s GI network is greater than the sum of its parts and local heritage contributes to a healthy Countywide GI network in which residents will be invested. A key challenge for the Plan is to balance the protection of our heritage and landscapes with the management of change in a manner that enhances rather than diminishes heritage and landscape features, structures, buildings, sites and places of special interest.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028159Green Infrastructure (GI) Policy GI7: Landscape, Natural, Cultural and Built Heritage Protect, conserve and enhance landscape, natural, cultural and built heritage features, and support the objectives and actions of the County Heritage Plan. GI7 Objective 1: To protect, conserve and enhance natural, built and cultural heritage features and restrict development that would have a negative impact on these assets in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 3: Natural, Cultural and Built Heritage of this Development Plan. GI7 Objective 2: To protect and enhance the landscape character of the County by ensuring that development retains, protects and, where necessary, enhances the appearance and character of the landscape, in accordance with the provisions of South Dublin’s Landscape Character Assessment and the provisions of Chapter 3: Natural, Cultural and Built Heritage of this Development Plan. GI7 Objective 3: To work in collaboration with the owners of lands along the perimeter of Rathcoole Woodlands for its protection and that of the wildlife using it and the ecological services it provides. GI7 Objective 4: To develop Rathcoole Woodlands as part of a wider nature / walking trail from Saggart to Lugg Woods subject to the protection of its biodiversity, wildlife and ecological value which is of primary importance. GI7 SLO 1: The current green wildlife corridor between Saggart and Rathcoole be maintained and the need to preserve this wildlife corridor be incorporated into the design and development plans for Rathcoole Park. GI7 SLO 2: To ensure the adequate protection and augmentation of the identified Alluvial Rathcoole Woodlands within the zoning RU, and in recognising their value as green infrastructure and the potential linkages to Lugg Woods and Slade Valley and other amenity areas, provide for sensitive passive amenity uses which have regard to their Annex 1 status.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028160Green Infrastructure (GI) 4.3 Defining the Spatial Framework The Council’s GI network has been identified and mapped as part of the development of this strategy. This mapping exercise has identified a spatial framework for the County’s GI comprising a diverse range of habitat and landscape types, from river valleys and major parks to private gardens and urban green spaces and including Natura 2000 sites and proposed NHAs. Other data sets have also informed the strategy, including flood maps and riparian corridors. There are variations in the distribution and quality of GI across the County. However, the County’s GI assets come together to create a complex, integrated network of components whose total value is greater than the sum of their parts. 4.3.1 Components of the GI Network GI networks are spatially defined in terms of several common components. Core Areas serve as anchors within a GI network. They are the point of origin and destination for wildlife and are sites at which essential ecological processes occur. Corridors represent the physical links that tie the network of Core Areas together. They typically align with water courses or linear open spaces and allow for the migration of species between Core habitats. Stepping Stones are smaller areas of green space. They provide alternative routes for the movement of species within the overall network and contribute to local biodiversity. The spatial arrangement of these different components and their relationship to one another comprises a spatial GI network. In the context of South Dublin County these Core Areas and Corridors provide connections not just within the County itself but also to the adjoining Local Authorities of Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, Wicklow County Council, Kildare County Council and Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council. The key components and features of the County’s spatial GI framework are detailed below: à Major Core Areas within the County include the Dublin Mountains, within the Wicklow Mountains National Park, and the parks located along the Liffey Valley providing strong GI links with adjoining counties. Other Core Areas include major parks and public green spaces, such as Waterstown Park and Lucan Demesne within the Liffey Valley, and Tymon Park and Corkagh Park. The Liffey Valley Special Amenity Order Area extends protection within the Liffey Valley from Chapelizod to Lucan. These core areas are important centres of biodiversity in their own right and also serve as important recreational assets for South Dublin residents and visitors; à A network of overlapping and multi-functional GI Corridors connects the County’s core areas with the Dublin Mountains (Dublin and Wicklow), Liffey Valley, Kildare rural hinterland and the broader regional GI network. These corridors largely comprise of watercourses and their associated riparian zones, such as the River Liffey, Dodder, and Camac as well as the Grand Canal. Two additional emerging potential corridors along the urban fringe have been identified, adjoining the boundary with County Kildare (greenbelt / green space potential) and the M50
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028161Green Infrastructure (GI) Corridor. Corridors also include the extensive network of hedgerows and trees that exist across the County. The key corridors pass through the neighbouring administrative areas of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Dublin City, Fingal, Kildare and Wicklow. As such the GI Strategy will have regard to the need for cross-boundary communication and collaboration for their effective management; à The Strategic County GI Corridors are further supported by a number of Local GI Corridors, as demonstrated in Figure 4.4. Each strategic corridor is described separately within Table 4.1, along with associated objectives. Appendix 4 provides further detail around the Local GI Corridors; à The County’s GI network contains a number of smaller, discrete green spaces that are dispersed throughout its built-up area. These include local-scale greens and parks and other green spaces. These spaces serve as Stepping Stones for species to move throughout the broader network of corridors and core areas and contribute to a range of additional local benefits around recreation and stormwater management; à The urban centres and suburban areas of the County contain localised GI features including urban trees, smaller open spaces and water management features such as SuDS. The GI Strategy seeks to enhance such features and ensure they are connected to the broader GI network. This strategy seeks to ensure that all new development contributes to the overall GI network of the County. It provides measures to protect and enhance existing GI attributes in the County providing for connections to local Stepping Stones (creating Stepping Stones) and ultimately providing links to the GI Corridors and Core areas of the County and Region. This contributes to strong climate change mitigation and adaptation in South Dublin County allowing us to meet national and regional targets referenced in section 4.0.1 above. C o m p o n e n t s o f G I N et w o rk C o r r i d o r Corridor Core Core Stepping Stones Core Figure 4.2: Components in a GI Network
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028162Green Infrastructure (GI) Figure 4.3: Key Elements of South Dublin County Council’s GI network
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028163Green Infrastructure (GI) County Boundary Primary GI Corridor Core Area 1 1 2 2 4 6 1 Dodder River Corridor Rural Fringe Corridor M50 Corridor Grand Canal Corridor 2 3 4 5 6 Liffey Valley Corridor River/ Stream/ Canal 3 3 4 Camac River Corridor DLR GI Corridor-2 Link to Fingal GI Link to Wicklow GI Link to Dublin GI Liffey Corridor Key Secondary GI Link L10 L5 L1 L7 Link to Dublin GI Grand Canal Corridor 6 6 Link to River Liffey WICKLOW KILDARE KILDARE FINGAL DUBLIN DUBLIN DLR DLR WICKLOW 5 Link to Kildare Rural GI L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 Adamstown Link Tallaght-Urban Link Griffeen-M50 Link M50-Liffey Cross Link Griffeen River Link Tallaght-Dublin Mountains Link L7 L8 L9 L1 Tallaght-Rural Link Citywest-Saggart Link M50-DLR Crosslink L3 L9 L10 L11 L8 Griffeen-Grand Canal Link Grand Canal-Corkagh Link 5 L4 6 Primary GI Corridor Secondary GI Link L2 L6 L12 L13 L14 L14 22 L11 L16 L15 L16 L17 Ballycullen Stream-Dodder Link River Poddle Link L12 Whitechurch Stream Link L13 L14 Owendoher River/Glendoo Brook Link Ballymount-Grand Canal Link L15 L17 Owendoher River LinkL16 L85 3 LLL6 L177 Link to Kildare GI Liffy Corridor Link to Kildare GI Grand Canal Corridor 2 1 Link 6 ff CKLOW 5 al GI L155 Figure 4.4: Green Infrastructure Strategy Map
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028164Green Infrastructure (GI) 4.3.2 Strategic Corridor Objectives Objectives for each of the six strategic corridors are set out below in Table 4.1. Table 4.1 Strategic Green Infrastructure Corridors Strategic Corridor 1: The Dodder River The River Dodder rises in the Dublin Mountains in the Glenasmole Valley and flows north-eastwards through the administrative areas of South Dublin County, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County and Dublin City before entering the sea at the Grand Canal Basin in Ringsend. As such, the Dodder presents a unique opportunity to connect South Dublin’s GI network with those of its neighbours. The River Dodder has the unique characteristics of being both an urban river within a capital city and an important GI corridor for biodiversity. The Dodder is a Strategic GI corridor at the regional level passing through three urban / suburban counties and linking to several Natura 2000 sites and links to the Dublin Mountains, within the Wicklow Mountains National Park, and the Irish Sea. The Dodder River is a strong ecological corridor, containing a valuable biodiversity resource and acts as a refuge and protection of biodiversity both in general, and especially, for a wide range of protected species through the urban landscape – true ‘Green Infrastructure’. In a European context, the presence of kingfishers, dippers, otters, and lamprey along an urban river like the Dodder is a very unique situation, especially for a capital city. There are substantial parks along the banks of the Dodder, providing amenity and recreation for the population of the city. The more recent development of the Dodder Greenway resulted from a collaboration between South Dublin County, Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Councils. This project will see the creation of a 17km greenway linking the quays in Dublin City Centre to the Bohernabreena Reservoir at Glenasmole. South Dublin County Council is responsible for 14km of the greenway, from Bohernabreena Reservoir to Orwell Park in Rathfarnham. The Greenway will be utilised by pedestrians and cyclists. Planning for the Greenway requires improvement of the environment through which it passes.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028165Green Infrastructure (GI) Overarching Objectives: à To provide a multi-functional GI corridor crossing and connecting the mountains, urban and rural areas and linking with other regional corridors. à To recognise, protect, and enhance the role of the River Dodder Corridor as a key route through the urban environment for biodiversity and protected species. à To protect and enhance the River Dodder Corridor as an area of heritage, geology, special amenity and recreation. à To monitor and address any negative impacts on biodiversity and protected species arising from amenity and greenway activities, so as to maintain the high value of the River Dodder Corridor as a Green Infrastructure link through the County and region. à To explore opportunities to restore the quality and biodiversity of the Dodder’s river-bank margins. à To enhance and maintain ecological habitats along the river corridor to improve mobility for protected species and to support other ecosystem services such as pollinator sites, flood attenuation, and spaces for lowimpact recreation. à To continue the implementation of non-native invasive species control within the County including along the River Dodder, and to co-ordinate control measures with other stakeholders, wherever possible, to ensure a collaborative approach. à To protect green and blue infrastructure of the Dodder River Corridor and restore the naturalness of the rivers riparian corridors through the planting of native plant species while minimising new development within the riparian corridors (Riparian Corridors are shown on the Development Plan GI Map, refer also to section 4.2.2 of this chapter). à To protect sensitive species within the Dodder Valley and ensure new recreational development within the Dodder Valley does not have an adverse impact on nocturnal species. à To protect and enhance the outstanding landscape character and amenity of the Dodder Valley (See Chapter 3: Natural, Cultural and Built Heritage). à To restore the natural features of the River Dodder riparian corridor and promote the planting of native plant species. à To implement the plans for the Dodder Greenway in accordance with the Part 8 for the scheme.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028166Green Infrastructure (GI) Core Areas and Stepping Stones Objectives associated with the Core Areas / Stepping Stones Core Areas: Dublin / Wicklow Mountains Bohernabreena Reservoir Glenasmole Valley Stepping Stones: Kiltipper Park à To support the implementation of the ‘Dublin Mountains Forest Conversion Plan’ by Coillte Nature, in cooperation with the Dublin Mountains Partnership, in order to promote biodiversity and active and visual amenity. à To promote sensitive recreational access to Glenasmole Valley and Dublin Mountains in a manner that does not compromise its integrity as a core area of biodiversity. à To ensure that the implementation of the Dodder Greenway does not adversely impact the biodiversity, GI or amenity value of the Dodder Valley Park by implementation of the recommendations / requirements as set out in the environmental reports for the scheme. à To identify locations which have potential to provide for increased attenuation of floodwaters, or water attenuation, and manage them for this purpose. à To continue to implement the grassland, hedgerow and landscape management regimes supporting biodiversity, and the presence of ground nesting birds in particular, in Kiltipper Park.
- SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2022-2028167Green Infrastructure (GI) Strategic Corridor 2: M50 Corridor The M50 is an important piece of national transport infrastructure that links South Dublin County Council to DLR, DCC, and Fingal. While it acts to sever connectivity for biodiversity and for local communities, the GI Strategy recognises that there are opportunities for GI enhancement along the M50. The M50 spans the biodiversity corridors of the River Liffey, the Grand Canal, the Camac, the Poddle, the Dodder, and the tributaries of the Whitechurch and Owendoher Rivers. It also spans the Dodder Valley Linear Park and bisects Tymon Park. A range of other open spaces and local and neighbourhood parks are also located along its perimeter, such as at Ballymount, Kilnamanagh, Knockmitten, and Collinstown. An opportunity exists to identify and enhance the interconnection of the parks, green spaces and river corridors situated along the M50. Measures include providing additional north-south, pedestrian and cyclist green links (For example, at Grand Canal) as well as east-west links where possible. This will help create further GI connectivity for the benefit of biodiversity and for recreational purposes. The M50 corridor also extends into the administrative area of Dún Laoghaire– Rathdown County Council to the south and Fingal County Council to the north. As such, there is further opportunity for cross-county extension of GI improvements into these counties to further enhance the importance of this corridor for example, the potential for GI links from the County to lands at Dunsink is one such opportunity. Overarching Objectives: à To enhance connectivity between existing parks and open spaces on either side of the M50 corridor. à To enhance corridor links and biodiversity value through appropriate planting along both sides of the M50 Corridor, to maximise opportunities to ameliorate noise and air pollution, increase visual amenity, enhance biodiversity and provide continuous ecological corridors and green links where possible in consultation with TII / NTA. à To promote the connectivity of the M50 GI Corridor with Dublin’s wider regional GI network, in consultation with Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council and Fingal County Council. à To investigate the potential to implement improved pedestrian and cycling infrastructure between the Grand Canal corridor and green spaces at Knockmitten. à To identify and support additional north-south pedestrian and cyclist green links (for example at Grand Canal) as well as east-west links where possible.
Source South Dublin County Council: South Dublin County Development Plan 2022–2028 – Written Statement (2022–2028) · Licence the publisher's termsText read from the publisher’s PDF; tables, maps and drawings do not survive as text, and page numbers are the PDF’s (its first page is 1). Check the original before relying on a passage.