Irish Rail agrees to provide staff to help during any Greystones DART disruption.

I found that during DART disruptions in Greystones no reliable information was provided as the station was often unmanned. The electronic station sign conflicted with the ‘Trains Live’ App and there was no announcement. This meant that passengers did not know to take the bus which stopped across the road.

I wrote to the Chief Executive and after some reminders he has apologised and agreed to a protocol that if there is disruption they will send staff who can advise waiting passengers about alternative busses or other transport.

‘generally the DART is reliable but people, especially the many visitors on it, are confused when disrupted and no information is provided. This will help passengers find alternatives’ said Cllr Derek Mitchell.

N11 Traffic Jams & National Infrastructure Plan. Lobby Now.

 Decisions on this will be taken soon and getting the funding will involve intense competition from other areas of the country. If you are stuck in these traffic jams or just want better transport write to the T.Ds ask them to get this included. A summary of The Strategic Plan for the N11 is:

 Phase 1: improve safety at Kilmacanoge with a separate lane as on Lucan Road.

 Phase 2: 3^rd lane from M50 to Fassaroe. Mostly this can be constructed on existing median so is relatively simple.

 Phase 3: 3 rd lane to Kilmacanoge, Bray South junction major upgrade, service lanes on West side and in places on East side.

 Phase 4: limited improvements South of Kilmacanoge to Coyne’s Cross which are not yet needed.

 Traffic is now very bad and getting rapidly worse, many mornings backed up from Kilmacanoge to Newcastle junction (10 km). Traffic rat-runs through Greystones and Bray to avoid the N11 causing severe congestion in towns. Many houses are now being built in Wicklow and Cherrywood, now building, will make it far worse. Phase 1 & 2 will be of some benefit but not much to the Northbound jams South of Kilmacanoge, that needs Phase 3. No road improvements are included for Glen o’ Downs nor any road by Little Sugar Loaf. The N11 is the only non motorway road section from the Border to Gorey and the 50 year old design is way out of date.

 Public Transport improvements are also needed but I don’t think they are listed for the TII Plan. Short Term measures should be:

Bus. Express buses from Wicklow/Wexford with Park n’ Ride at Ashford,  Kilpeddar, Glenview and Enniskerry turnoff. Some buses along M50 to Sandyford & Red Cow LUAS stop at least at rush hour. This needs N11 improved.

Train. Increase 2 morning Wicklow diesel trains from 4 to 8 carriages. An extra DART from Greystones at 07.21 in morning and evening return. Needs 8 more DART carriages which are only ordered infrequently and take 3 years to build. Increase space at Greystones Park n’ Ride.

 ‘I urge people to write to T.Ds this week and demand implementation of this plan’ said Cllr Derek Mitchell (FG).

Ends.

Cllr Derek Mitchell welcomed the rapid construction of the Boardwalk in Greystones Harbour and the protection of the North Beach. The picture shows sections of the Boardwalk which have been lifted into place.

On the North Beach 5,000 cu m of shingle was placed in August to compensate for erosion in previous years and rocks were placed to protect the very old town dump. This is being done by the developer as part of the Harbour contract.

]]> http://derekmitchell.ie/2017/09/greystones-boardwalk-construction-advancing-well/feed/ 0 http://derekmitchell.ie/2017/06/dublin-bus-route-redesign-seminar/ http://derekmitchell.ie/2017/06/dublin-bus-route-redesign-seminar/#comments Tue, 06 Jun 2017 14:53:28 +0000 http://derekmitchell.ie/?p=1739 Cllr Derek Mitchell (FG) went to a seminar on Dublin bus route redesign which was interesting but theoretical. Detailed proposals will be out in the Autumn which could be a radical redesign across the entire Dublin Bus network ‘I spotted a basic mistake on the  Greystones DART frequency and got it corrected. I had a list of my proposals and some ones collected in a survey which I sent in afterwards’. These included:

·        Busses on M50 to, Cherrywood, Sandyford, Luas, Dundrum, Citwest, Blanchardstown, Airport. To get people out of cars time has be reasonable compared to them. This requires Motorway speeds and not getting caught up in towns. I have seen this work in Oslo for example where buses stop at Motorway junction ramps. Also park n’ Ride sites on N11.

·        The 84x is a good service but more are needed, including during the day, later in evening and weekends.

·        A more regular service to UCD.

·        Cannot get on returning 84x as full with short distance people. Must wait a long time for next one if any. Foxrock and Clonkeen Road mentioned amongst other places.

·        Bus does not meet DART, often pulling out just before train pulls in. Difficult to get South of Greystones in evenings.

·        NTA and Irish Rail planning a worse service South of Bray so a better bus service is needed to compensate. The 10 minute timetable to be introduced when the drivers allow it, is marketed as an improvement but South of Bray will have no more trains and a 5.5 minute (+12%) longer journey time.

·        DCU link like Kildare has.

·        Bus passes not accepted on Finnegans.

·        Service from Newtownmount kennedy on M50.

·        Park n’ Ride site at top of Farrenkelly road (on M50) and busses into town/M50.

·        St. Vincents hospital access problems.

·        184 to Eden gate.

·        More Nightlinks

·        A local bus service.

·        Increase jobs in area.

·         Reduce development.

The developer has planning permission for 27 houses on the site, including 5 in the old shell but he has done nothing.

Mitchell demands 3% Derelict Site Tax for La Touche Hotel

The historic building is an eyesore and has been in terrible condition for a decade at least. Also young people have been breaking in to the building which is dangerous. Earlier this year the owner got permission to build 27 houses, 5 of which are to be in the restored old structure, on this fine site. However nothing has happened. I have asked the Council to apply the 3% Derelict Site Tax. Officials have agreed to check the site and apply the Tax if possible in order to encourage progress or at least tidying up the site.

Andrew Doyle and Derek Mitchell press Dublin Bus for better services to Greystones

Ray Coyne, Chief Executive of Dublin Bus met Minister Andrew Doyle, Cllr. Derek Mitchell and Liz Dillon to discuss Greystones busses.

We asked them to run more 84x during the day and to provide more bus transport with schoolfares from Charlesland to Templecarrick School which is rapidly expanding. Many children use the 6 express busses before 8 am to get to the school but must pay the higher fare on this express bus. Dublin Bus will see whether they can provide more 184 busses at this time, as this has the lower fares.

They will try to align the 184 better with DARTs but pointed out that it can only link up at only 1 of the 2 stations which it calls to. It is difficult to get busses starting in Dublin, the 84 and 84x, to meet up with a half hourly DART service as their arrival time will be affected by traffic.

We also pointed out that about 600 houses are being built in Greystones and that there will be more demand for transport. Dublin Bus will examine how to improve services and also mentioned that the 184 & 185 routes were to be put out to tender with defined service levels.

February 2016

 Management Summary

Wicklow’s Community Benefit has stopped in 2015 after a century and a half. Wicklow supplies Dublin with 89% and Kildare with 75% of their water. It has been recognised since 1861 that Wicklow needed to benefit in return. A direct benefit was received or payment made for 153 years up to 2014 but this benefit has not been paid yet for 2015. It needs to be paid and put on a new permanent basis for subsequent years.

History of Community Benefit for Wicklow. The Dublin Corporation Waterworks Act 1861 and the Bray Township Act 1866, obliged Dublin City Council to provide a supply of treated drinking water to Bray and Greystones, at little or no cost in return for using Wicklow’s water from the then new Vartry scheme. The water authority for Greystones into the 1970’s was Dublin City Council who supplied and paid for the pipes and maintenance as well as the water.

This legislation was repealed, due to EU Regulations, in 2007 as detailed in the Dail Question reply by the Minister for the Environment (appendix A). From then Dublin City Council charged Wicklow about €912k a year for providing wholesale water for domestic and non-domestic users. Wicklow County Council’s annual subvention from the Local Government Fund was increased by €585k from 2008. This was paid as part of the LGF every year to 2014 to compensate for this. This arrangement diluted the 1861 Community Gain legislative commitment as it covered only half of the cost of the water and Wicklow also had to pay for the local distribution. It represented a Community Benefit of only 40% of the 1861 Act.

In 2015 the LGF subvention was replaced by the Local Property Tax and users now pay Irish Water directly for domestic and non domestic water. The Community Benefit for supplying water now needs to be paid to Wicklow County Council for 2015.

Longer Term. Irish Water has published a consultation document recommending increasing Dublin’s water supply by bringing water from the Shannon. Consultation closes on the 3^rd February. This proposes to set up a Community Benefit Fund in relation to Shannon water transfer. The outline suggestion in the document is that this could be one cent per cubic metre of water supplied.  If applied to Wicklow this would be about €1.87m(appendix B) per year. As the water is currently being used it should be paid at this rate in 2016. This is about the same benefit as under the 1861 Act, calculated at between €1.5m and €2.2m in Appendix B.

The Community Benefit envisaged is to local groups and projects. However in Wicklow the effects on the area and Council finances are much more severe than in the Shannon and most should be paid to the Council. Also Irish Water envisages a once-off payment for major capital projects in the area.

Why Wicklow County Council should benefit. The Wicklow Mountains are why there is so much surplus water in Wicklow. They have made it difficult to attract industry to Wicklow because one can’t build in the mountains and also there are poor transport links across the mountains. This means that the Council has a low commercial rates base with which to provide services.

Dublin and Kildare have been able to attract substantial industry, including water intensive industries such as Intel and pharma plants, using water from Wicklow, and they thus have substantial rates bases and Property Tax income to provide services.

Development Restrictions. The Blessington Lake with 34 miles circumference is the largest manmade lake in Europe. For a very wide area surrounding this the Water Authority (previously Dublin City Council now Irish Water) imposes major restrictions on developments in Wicklow. This has stopped the settlements of Valleymount, Lacken, Manor Kilbride and part of Holywood expanding. Blessington is hemmed in between the artificial lake on the West and Kildare on the East side. Similar issues apply to the Roundwood area. Equivalent settlements in Kildare, often further from Dublin, such as Clane, Nass, Kildare, Kilcock have been able to expand as they are not restricted by the restrictions inherent in supplying the region with water. Industry and hotels have also been restricted and if permitted are required to put in expensive (both to install and run) sewerage treatment. This acts as a major disincentive to employment. One off houses are also restricted much to the annoyance of local people.

Direct costs to the County Council. There are also significant costs maintaining the roads, fire services and other services in this sparsely populated core of County Wicklow which covers about 70% of the County area. For example the Council’s Municipal District of West Wicklow, which has much of the water catchment area, has an expenditure of €6m which is €2.5m greater than the Greystones/Kilcoole MD expenditure of €3.5m. These areas have the same population. There is also extra centrally budgeted expenditure dealing with upland issues.

Severe Disturbance on setting up Blessington lakes. This was done during the Emergency in the 1940’s and would not have been able to be done in peacetime due to the bad effect on locals. Farmers were shifted from the fertile alluvial soils in the valley floor to the higher less fertile lands. Compensation was only paid at low forestry land prices and if appealed the amount was generally lowered.  Some people had to bring the graves of their ancestors to higher land.

Most reservoirs have the ground partly levelled before flooding. This was not done here and houses, barns, trees, churches, fences were left standing. This makes some water sports dangerous and much is banned limiting the recreational and sports business use.

Commercial Rates on Water plants. The rates of about €100k on the Vartry plant were paid to Wicklow and the Ballymore Eustace and Leixlip plants, which are each 4 or 5 times larger in capacity were paid to Kildare.  From 2015 Irish Water was declared exempt from rates. Even that benefit has been removed from the County producing the water.

Dublin councils have major rates income and LPT to provide services. Dublin has 23 times more rate income than Wicklow for a population only 9 times larger. Even Kildare has €29m more (i.e. double see appendix B) commercial rates than Wicklow to provide services to the County which is smaller in area. None of this tax income would be possible without Wicklow’s water. Wicklow has the costs of keeping the water collection area but has a very limited rates and LPT income because of it.

Dublin people benefit from the lakes and mountains.  A large majority of the many people visiting the water catchment area are from Dublin and being day visitors spend little in the County. They are welcome but the cost of providing facilities (roads, car parks, litter collection, dog wardens, paths, gritting in ice, Civil Defence etc.) falls on Wicklow County Council.

Appendix A. Dail Question.

558. Deputy Andrew Doyle  asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government    the legislation governing charges for [1986]water supplied to Wicklow from Wicklow reservoirs; when it was introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29845/07]

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Deputy John Gormley):   General legal authority to charge for water supplies derives from section 65A of the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878, inserted by section 7 of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1962 (as amended). Additional legislation applying to Wicklow, including the Dublin Corporation Waterworks Act 1861 and the Bray Township Act 1866, obliges Dublin City Council to provide a supply of treated drinking water to Bray and Greystones, at little or no cost which is in breach of Ireland’s obligations under the EU Water Framework Directive.

This legislation is being repealed under the Water Services Act 2007, and replaced by a modern legislative code requiring water services authorities to charge for the full cost of providing water services to non-domestic users. It is understood that Dublin City Council intends to continue providing water supplies to Wicklow County Council, but at appropriate rates of charge phased in as transitional arrangements and ultimately reflecting the true cost of supply. My Department is also in contact with Wicklow County Council with a view to adjusting the annual subvention from the Local Government Fund to take account of the revised financial arrangements.

Acknowledgement of assistance provided by:

Bryan Doyle                            Chief Executive Wicklow County Council

Lorraine Lynch                       Head of Finance

Michael Geaney                      Director of Services

Councillor Jim Ruttle

Appendix B: figures

Calculation of Wicklow’s Community Gain per Irish Water document

Total water used in Dublin Region per day is 535 ml per day less Wicklow usage of 22 is 513 ML
at 1c per CuM is €5130 per day or €1.87m per year.

Calculation of Wicklow’s Community Gain per 1861 Act on a modern basis.
‘supply of treated drinking water to Bray and Greystones, at little or no cost’.

Wholesale Water Cost about €1.5m
cost of maintaining pipes, repairing leaks, installing new pipes etc. say €600,000
Water Bills paid to Dublin City Council €913,000

Retail Water Cost about €2.2m
Bray and Greystones have a population of about 45,000 and about 17,000 houses.
The water charge is capped at €130 so the average charge would be over €70.
This gives an income of €1.2m. A guestimate of the non domestic charge would be €1m.
A total cost of €2.2m. Irish Water will have these figure exactly.

At one stage it was envisaged a charge of €3.70 per 1,000 litres which would probably give a higher figure.

The Council has now asked for further, but minor, changes. These include widening Marine Road to 5.5m, providing a footpath all along Cliff Road and ensuring each house has a specific parking space.

 ‘The building is the most prominent in Greystones and has been a derelict eyesore for 10 years. I objected to the original impact on the seafront and the revised design has less impact. It is important it is brought back into use with attractive buildings and I hope the developer gets moving on it’ said Cllr Derek Mitchell.

An Taoiseach confirmed that following the income tax and USC cuts introduced earlier this year, the Government will cut the 7% rate of USC to reduce the marginal tax rate on all those earning less than €70,000 per year to below 50%.

“AnTaoiseach also said that despite a stronger than expected performance in tax receipts and public finances, the Government will not be gong back to the “when we have it we spend it” approach to budget management, which was the way of previous governments. I welcome this. As a result of the policies pursued by this Government, and the people’s willingness to stay the course through a very difficult period, our economy should grow by around 4 per cent this year, which would bring our level of GDP above its pre-crisis peak. That is a remarkable turnaround in a relatively short period of time and has been tough to achieve,” Councillor Derek Mitchell stated.

The strong ecconomy means we’re well placed to deliver a decade of strong growth, of good jobs, of opportunity for all our people. However, these growth rates cannot be taken for granted and will require a continuation of this Government’s prudent and sustainable approach to managing the economy,”  he added.