W2D-010 Port Tunnel variation-0.txt
To: The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Alderman and Members of the Dublin City Council.

Re: Proposed Variation of the Dublin City Development Plan, 1991 - Dublin Port Tunnel

The Local Government (Planning Development) Act 1963 provides that it shall be the duty of a Planning Authority to take such steps as may be necessary for securing the objectives which are contained in the provisions of the Development Plan.

The Dublin City Development Plan, made by the City Council on 19th December, 1991, contains the following statements which are of specific relevance to the Dublin Port Tunnel concept:
Paragraph 2.2.11 "There is a necessity to relieve the existing street network of the bad environmental effects from dock traffic. The economic life of the city suffers from the congestion of commercial transport. Better Port access is required.
Residential amenity is seriously effected by the heavy volumes of through traffic from the M1/Airport Road using the streets of residential areas.

The feasibility of constructing a major Port Access and Eastern Relief Route linking the Port to the national road network will be examined."

Paragraph 3.22.0 "It is the policy of Dublin Corporation to assist in improving the efficiency of Dublin Port and to seek to improve access to the Port by transferring extraneous Port generated traffic from the City Streets onto suitable alternative relief routes."

Paragraph 3.22.1 "It is realised the development of alternative routes for Port related traffic raises environmental difficulties but given the potential benefits for the Inner city such routes must be investigated further. The provision of such facilities will relieve the City Quays, existing community shopping areas and poor environmental conditions resulting from heavy Port traffic."

When the City Council made the City Development Plan on 19th December, 1991, it included the following paragraph (14.5.13) in relation to the then proposed Port Access and Eastern Relief Route: "The report of the Consultants on the feasibility and environmental impact of a Port Access and Eastern Relief Route will be considered by the Corporation with other relevant studies and initiatives in the transport area having regard to the policy statements in paragraphs 2.2.11, 3.22 and 3.23 of the Plan. Depending on the findings of the studies a proposal to vary the Development Plan will be considered, if appropriate, by the Corporation."

The Government decided in November 1992 not to proceed with the Eastern Relief Route element of the proposal, (i.e. the section between the North Port and Booterstown); the study was thus restricted to a feasibility study for the Northern Access Route to the Port. The Consultant's report recommended the route now proposed. This recommendation was noted by An Coisde Cuspoiri Coiteann on 27th July, 1995 and by the City Council subsequently on 4th September, 1995.

During the studies undertaken for the Port Access and Eastern Relief Route, six route options for the northern section, between the M1 and the Port, were considered. These involved "cut and cover" tunnels, bored tunnels and new surface routes. Most were rejected because of the adverse environmental effects and prohibitive costs involved. The route now proposed was preferred for environmental, engineering and economic reasons.

The Route proposed has a total length of 4.6km., approximately 3.5km which will be in tunnel construction. The implementation of the project is to be accompanied by traffic management measures (including a truck management system) on the lines recommended in the Final Report of the Dublin Transportation Initiative.

The Dublin City Planning Officer Mr. P.F.A. McDonnell, has certified that the principle of such a route would correspond with the 1991 Dublin City Development Plan policies set out in clauses 2.2.11, 3.22 and 3.22.1. A variation of the Development Plan is accordingly recommended.

The National Roads Authority in its letter of 15th November 1995, when making a formal request to the Corporation to carry out the scheme, stated that it is now Government policy that the scheme should proceed on a priority basis, as an element in the Final Report of the Dublin Transportation Initiative. The Corporation has engaged, as Consultants for the scheme, the firm of Geoconsult-Arup J.V.
DUBLIN TRANSPORTATION INITIATIVE
The D.T.I. Report, having examined a number of options, recommended that a tunnel from the Airport Motorway (north of Collins Avenue) to the Northern Port should be built. D.T.I. also recommended that its use by cars should be tolled, as a traffic management measure, to ensure that it would have the capacity to carry out its key function, which is access to Dublin Port for heavy goods vehicles.

The current proposal is one of a number of key elements of the integrated DTI Strategy which are: greater priority to public transport services; new light rail transport routes and Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs) into the City and upgrading of DART; major road infrastructure, including completion of the C-Ring and the national road network outside the C-Ring; traffic management proposals, such as traffic calming and restriction of HGVs from the unsuitable streets and residential areas; construction of a tunnel, the North Port Access Route (NPAR), re-named the Dublin Port Tunnel, to link the North Port to the M1; land use policy.

Implementation of this scheme and other elements of the DTI Strategy must take place as an integrated process in order to bring essential economic and environmental benefits to the City. As an integral part of the DTI Strategy, the proposed scheme seeks to relieve congestion on the City's streets, assist in enhancing public transport provision and improve environmental quality in the City.
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
There has been extensive contact with the public in connection with this scheme, including public exhibitions in Whitehall, Fairview and East Wall. A permanent exhibition continues in the Civic Offices and the Consultative Group set up in response to the motion adopted by the City Council in March 1996 continues its programme of regular meetings. At the end of September, a total of eleven meetings had been held, involving residents'groups, elected representatives, representatives from the Consultants Corporation officials.

The concerns expressed by the residents at these meetings are being examined in detail and measures to alleviate these are being considered. I have every confidence that these genuinely-held concerns, with particular regard to air quality and tunnelling effects, can be addressed satisfactorily.
LEGAL PROCEDURES
Under the Roads Acts 1993, a motorway development shall not be carried out unless, following the holding of public local inquiry, the Minister has approved or approved with modification a motorway scheme submitted by a Roads Authority.
(i) Environmental Impact Assessment
The Roads Act obliges a local authority in applying to the Minister for approval for a motorway development to prepare and submit an Environmental Impact Statement to the Minister in respect of the proposed development. The Minister may then require the road authority to furnish him with specified additional information in relation to the likely affects on the environment of the proposal.
(ii) Motorway Scheme
Before submitting a motorway scheme to the Minister, the Roads Authority is obliged to publish a notice stating (a) that a scheme has been made, (b) is available for inspection, and (c) that objections may be made in writing to the Minister before a specified date.

The scheme is required to be in a prescribed form and shall specify, (inter alia), any land or rights proposed to be compulsorily acquired or extinguished, planning permissions to be revoked, and these shall be described by reference to a map or maps (where appropriate).

Before approving a proposed road development, the Minister shall consider (a) the Environmental Impact Statement submitted, (b) any additional information furnished to him, (c) any submissions arising from the EIS procedure, made in relation to the likely affects on the environment of the proposed road development, together with, the report and any recommendation of the person conducting the public inquiry into the proposal, where evidence is heard at such an inquiry in relation to the likely affects on the environment of the proposed road development.
(iii) Development Plan Variation
In addition to the public participation provided for by statute, by way of both the Environmental Impact Assessment and the Public Inquiry processes, to initiate a draft variation of the Development Plan for the Port Tunnel proposal would afford the public a further opportunity of participating in the process, by making submissions or objections, during the period of not less than three months, during which the proposed Variation of the Development Plan would be on public display.
VARIATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The City Council at its March 1996 meeting resolved to defer consideration of the variation process until the publication of the Environmental Impact Statement.

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was published on July 5th and has been on public display since then. The full text of the EIS has been circulated to all public representatives and to 42 residents associations in the areas affected by the proposal.

The City Council at its adjourned Quarterly meeting on 8th July, 1996, resolved to defer consideration of the initiation of the variation process until its October meeting.

It is now desirable that the questions which have been raised at the Consultative Group level should be presented to a wider forum, and that the general public be allowed to examine and comment on the proposals, in accordance with a statutory procedure, with the objective of establishing the net environmental and economic position for the City, should the project be implemented.

It is therefore recommended that the legal process be initiated for a Variation to the Dublin City Development Plan 1991 [as envisaged by the City Council when it included Paragraph 14.5.13 (see page 2) when making the Plan in December 1991] to provide for the construction of the Dublin Port Tunnel to link the M1 with a North Port Interchange. The proposed variation must go on public display for a period of not less than three (3) months. All objections and representations received in this period will be taken into consideration and a report will be issued to the City Council early in 1997. The City Council can then consider whether or not it is appropriate to vary the Dublin City Development Plan 1991.

The following is a suggested text of a resolution for consideration should it be the will of the City Council to initiate the Variation Process: "Dublin City Council hereby resolves to initiate the public display of a draft variation of the Dublin City Development Plan 1991, for the purpose of consulting the general public on the Dublin Port Tunnel motorway proposal."

J. Fitzgerald

CITY MANAGER
