Madam, - Foxrock residents are perfectly correct in doubting the bona fides of developers and their local authority when it comes to the proposed layout of apartments in their village (Letters, September 27th).
During the past two or three years Kelland Homes has built an apartment block in the middle of Clondalkin village, behind all-encompassing hoardings.
When these hoardings were removed earlier this year it was evident that the new building encroached into the footpath to a much greater degree than was previously the case. On inquiry to South Dublin Council last January, I received a reply which said that the Ordnance Survey map of the area prior to the development clearly showed the footpath at that location to be approximately 1.9 to 2 metres - whereas it now measures 1.04 metres (thanks to the convergence of the new building and an adjacent bollard), even though the council's own "minimum recommended footpath width" is 1.5 metres. The matter was being referred to the roads and traffic department and the planning enforcement section to ascertain the position. However, to date I have not received any satisfactory reply, nor do I expect any, in view of the fact that in the interim these apartments have become occupied.
It is a measure of the contempt with which both the builder and
the local authority view pedestrians that such a situation should
have been allowed to occur in conjunction with a new development.
Foxrock residents would do well to learn from our misfortune. -
Yours, etc,
ANNE CAHILL,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.