After two months of waiting I finally managed to get a motion heard regards the traffic issue at Ridgewood Estate Swords. Below you can see the motion and the Chief Executives Report; You can also view the webcast for the local area committee that was held on the 9th of march for more information.
Motion: Councillor J. Newman – Ridgewood Estate construction traffic “That the Chief Executive explains to this Committee what plans are in place to ensure any further development in Ridgewood Estate in Swords does not impact negatively on the local residents, and that the Chief Executive ensures that all construction traffic to future housing developments has a dedicated road to the site while work is ongoing, this is very necessary as the new housing development if approved will have at least 173 houses and this work could take a couple of years.”
Report : A planning application (Reg ref F14A/0365) for 173 houses at Rathingle has been submitted. On 20 January, the Council asked for Clarification of Additional Information on four points (archaeology, attenuation rate, attenuation design, and retention of trees). The applicant has a limited land holding. It is approximately 500m to the Naul Road and it is separated by third-party, agricultural lands. It is approximately 900m to the Forest Road (running to the south of Ridgewood) and it is also separated by third-party, agricultural lands. It would therefore be unfeasible and unreasonable in this instance to construct a dedicated road for construction traffic.
The Rathingle Local Area Plan identified two accesses for vehicular traffic. This is in accordance with the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets , and ensures that there will not be a concentration of motorised traffic on a single access route. This principle applies to construction traffic as well as operational traffic. Additional traffic calming has already been constructed on Cedar Park, in advance of the proposed development. The Council normally puts conditions on significant planning permissions regarding construction traffic management, in particular regarding wheel-washing facilities and hours of construction. It would be reasonable to put such conditions on any grant of permission .