Three members of the Brennanstown Residents Association (Tom Robinson, Catherine Bourke and Satheesh Kumar) and two members of the Brennanstown Board of Management (Mark Langton and Jill Farrelly) met Mark Campbell of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Parks Department and Aimee Dunne – DBFL Consulting Engineers on Friday 12^th April 2024 to discuss and walk along the Brennanstown section of the proposed Greenway.

Note: the design stage has not yet been finalised. A further consultation will take place prior to finalising of the design ahead of the Part 8 planning application September 2024. It is expected there will also be a further in-person public meeting to go through the draft design.

Four different route options were presented to us by the engineer, with the route in the attached photo appearing to be the most practical and least impactful to our estate. (Note: the photo is a bit distorted at the new bridge side – the stream and the Cherrywood side of the Greenway should be straight!). An outline of the route is as follows:

Looking toward the Old Bray Road and starting from where the Cabinteely path on the left joins the Avenue just up from the bridge, there will be a zebra crossing. This will lead right across the Avenue onto the current common green area to the left of the stream and the weeping willow tree. It will go south along the Old Bray Road side of the stream to a point about halfway between the Avenue and the New road bridge that is under construction.

It will then cross the stream to the Brennanstown Apartments side as it needs to join to the greenway route that is coming from Cherrywood underneath the east side new road bridge. Approximately in line with midway between Carleton House and Mercer House, shortly after crossing the stream, there will be a ‘y’, or forked, junction in the greenway. The left side of the ‘y’ will continue straight on by the stream to go under the new bridge. There is already a new granite-faced retaining wall there that gives us the location of the route. The right-hand side of the ‘y’ will go up a gentle incline to give the greenway access to the new Druids Glen road which will join the N11 to the Lehaunstown area as well as the apartments and houses that are being built either side of the new road. This road will also, ultimately, give pedestrian and bike access to the Lehaunstown Luas stop.  

A few things to note::

1. Keeping the zebra crossing some distance away from the junction of the Avenue and the exit from the car park is provided for. It is planned to be to the Bray Road-side adjacent to the existing ramp which will be removed. It will be a raised table design and zebra crossing to give a clear priority to those walking and cycling.
2. It may require moving a small number of the immature trees to allow the alignment of the path across the stream to the Y junction. This is not a removal of trees, and the more mature trees closer to our road and bridge into the development will not be touched or their root systems impacted.
3. Keeping the incline section toward the new Druids Glen Road as far as possible from Carleton House and at a low profile as to not impact on Carleton House.
4. Keeping disturbances to the current ecology systems to a minimum, including maintaining the trees and the green cover around the stream banks is a priority of the design. The plan overall intends to seek to enhance biodiversity where possible along the route, including the use of more water-permeable forms of tarmacadam for the path surface as to minimise hard surfaces and water run-offs. 

The plans that will be drawn up for the next round of consultation will contain more detail for feedback at that time.

End