Now is the time to #StopTheMadness
With the local elections fast approaching (Friday, 24 May), now is the perfect time to ask your local candidate where they stand on the proposed €22m overscaled inappropriately placed Vanity Project at Hellfire and Massys Woods!
We have put together some questions you can ask the candidate knocking at your door relating to this development:
1. Have they signed the petition?
2. Did they or their party make a submission to An Bord Pleanála?
3. If elected will they be voting for or against funding for this project?
Some Points to Ponder
The proposed treetop bridge from the Hellfire Club to Massy's Wood will attract 80% of vistors to the Hellfire Club into Massy's Wood increasing the footfall in Massy's Wood from the current level of 20,000 to 240,000.
The South Dublin County Councils submissions to an Bord Pleanala have made zero provision for protection of the wildlife, biodiversity or the wild nature of Massy's Wood despite the proposed 12 fold increase in footfall.
The SDCC submission states that Coillte will retain responsibility for the maintenance of Massy's wood with no commitment for additional funding in lieu of the increased footfall despite the fact that it has deteriorated substantially under their stewardship over the last 35+ years
SDCC proposes that two of the four main pedestrian pathways in Massy's Wood be officially shared with equestrian traffic which will render them unusable for pedestrians.
SDCC are proposing to alleviate the chaotic weekend traffic chaos caused by visitors parking on the main road reducing it to a single lane but are replacing it by an official 90M long single lane section between the Gunny Hill and Mount Venus junctions.
The SDCC proposal provides for a new sewer from the interpretive centre down to the city network which will open up all the farmland up to the Hellfire Club for development and will ruin the views and prospective which they are hoping to exploit.
An Bord Pleanála have asked SDCC on 3 separate occasions for additional information in relation to the environmental impact of the proposed development and to date the responses have been totally inadequate (over 607k spent to date on this #VanityProject). SDCC do not have an in house biodiversity officer similar to Dun Laoighre Rathdown and other councils
Did you know Wicklow County Council has become the first local authority in Ireland to declare “a biodiversity and climate-change emergency”, recognising the need to respond more urgently to the threat of climate breakdown and the global decline of species?
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/wicklow-council-declares-biodiversity-and-climate-change-emergency-1.3879187
It is time for South Dublin County Council CEO Danny McLoughlin, the upcoming #LE19 candidates and Coillte to acknowledge the voices of 20k concerned citizens and their wish to preserve what habitats we have left and plant more trees. “The emergency is clear – we are destroying our children’s future, their natural ecosystem, their climate, their mental wellbeing and their quality of life. We have too much to lose and no time for inaction.”
To date over 20,000 have said No!
https://www.change.org/p/save-the-hellfire-massy-s-wood
“Every one of us has the power to make changes and make them now. Our wonderful natural world and the lives of our children, grandchildren and all those who follow them depend upon us doing so.”
David Attenborough
Environmental Articles:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/government-must-declare-climate-and-biodiversity-emergency-1.3882649
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/threat-to-nature-applies-to-ireland-as-much-as-to-amazon-1.3882616
https://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment
#Biodiversity #Nature #Wildlife #ClimateChange
Link to Plans: https://www.sdcc.ie/…/dublin-…/an-bord-pleanala-application/