As the COVID challenge in society wanes, Lusk Community Council is focused on delivering a range of strategic initiatives for Lusk. Lusk Vision 2030 is the strategic plan that we commis-sioned and completed in 2021. We are now focused on the delivery of this strategic plan for the town. The Community Council is delighted that Lusk Vision 2030 has received recognition in Eu-rope with its shortlisting in the New European Bauhaus Prizes 2022. The project has been chosen as one of 52 overall finalists out of 1,100 submissions from across the EU. No matter what the outcome of the awards, this international recognition for Lusk Vision 2030 to be shortlisted is a source of great pride for the town and for the Community Council.We have submitted the final Lusk Vision 2030 plan to Fingal County Council for the review of the Fingal Development Plan as we seek to embed the Lusk Vision 2030 priorities in the Fingal Development Plan 2023-2029. In line with the principles of “Town Centre First”, the construction of the Lusk Community Cultural Centre represents the single largest community led investment in the town to date. As the con-struction project is nearing completion, we are focused on opening up of the Cultural Centre with a very special exhibition, staffing arrangements for the new community facility and the creation of a community campus composed of the Cottage Community Centre, Saint Macullins Centre and the Cultural Centre in the heart of the town. We see the Cultural Centre as a phase 1 project on the Katie Hunt’s site. The Community Council and Fingal County Council have received grant ap-proval for €48,600 under the Town & Village Renewal Scheme for the design of phase 2 for the site. This phase 2 project represents a very significant workload that we are now beginning and look forward to bringing forward new phase 2 proposals in line with our Lusk Vision 2030 strate-gic plan by the end of 2022.

The consultation period for the Fingal Development Plan 2023 – 2029 has now closed. Lusk Action Group along with other community organisations and local residents made submissions on the plan. We thank the members of our community who took the time to make submissions. We all strive to improve our town. Lusk Action Group has recently been made aware of building quality issues being experienced by homeowners in The Forge estate. Mindful of the fact that the same developer responsible for the delivery of this estate is now looking for planning permission from An Bord Pleanála for another very large estate within Lusk, we intend to investigate these issues, document them, and present them to the developer and relevant authorities and push for any necessary remediation to be undertaken without delay. If you are experiencing any building quality issues in this estate, please contact us at the email address below. Summer is fast approaching and it’s always a busy time in Lusk with many people enjoying the outdoors. We ask that the local environment is kept to the fore of people’s minds during this time and if you encounter litter to pick it up and dispose of it in a bin of which there are lots around the village. You might consider a litter picking walk once a week or even once a month. All you need is a bag, a pair of gloves and a litter picker. Half an hour along a patch of your choice makes such a difference to our town. Remember that the Summer Festival is coming up in mid-June. LAG is still looking for sponsorship from local businesses and support from members of the community to help on the day. Please get in touch with us at the email address below if you can donate or help. As always, we are on the lookout for new members of Lusk Action Group. If you have drive, enthusiasm, care about the future of our town and have some time to spare, please consider joining us. You can email us on luskactiongroup@gmail.com.

At the May Area Committee Cllr Rob O’Donoghue brought a motion discussing the phasing of amenities transfer to the Council related to residential developments in Lusk. As part of conditions set down for residential developments Class 1 Open Space or Commercial buildings may be phased so that they are completed in a timely manner in order to provide amenities for the people in the town to utilise. O’Donoghue commented ‘that while I accept that phasing is not an exact science, and it needs to be flexible there is a perception that in Lusk, time and again that the social dividend that comes with residential development is back ended. The Class 1 Open Space associated with the Forge was conditioned that it should be developed in tandem with the residential development and should be available to future residents of the development prior to the occupation of any dwelling in the last phase of the development. This has unfortunately not happened to date and the space is consequently not available for use by the residents and local sporting organisations.’ ‘It is vital now that that as highlighted by An Bord Pleanala in August of 2018, that the safeguards put in place around the Class 1 Open Space associated with the Station Road Development at the northern section of the Lusk Sports Hub is transferred in an expedient manner to ensure the delivery of amenities for clubs at the Hub. I welcome the Council managements assurances that the delivery of the site has been subject to ongoing monitoring by the Planning Authority’

Junsa Taekwondo recently took part in our first international tournaments since the pandemic , while at home we have been training hard for our upcoming local competition. We have also been training up our more senior members to be corner judges and referees. It’s been busy! Junsa Taekwondo trains in Lusk scout den. For more information on class times contact Master Stuart Russell on 087 7775202 or follow us on Facebook @ Junsa Taekwondo.

During March and April Lusk Athletic Club athletes took part in a wide range of Indoor and outdoor events with remarkable success. Our Juvenile, Senior and Master’s athletes competed brilliantly in Track and Field events taking home a large haul of medals from the Dublin, Leinster and National championships at the National Indoor Arena and at the highly impressive TUS arena in Athlone. At Parkrun and on the roads many of our athletes continued to set new PBs and major credit is due to the athletes for their dedication in training and to their coaches in Lusk AC who give so freely of their time to help improve all our athletes. In March we had 33 members complete the Bohermeen Half Marathon and close to 100 members took part in the Lusk St Patricks Day Parade. On the 2nd April our latest Fit 4 Life group graduated by running 5k at the Donabate Parkrun some running a 5k for the first time after only two months of training. Well done to all and we hope that this is the start of your running journey. Apart from all the success on the running front, club vice chairperson Aidan McKenna, Kate, Cara and Pat travelled to Lesotho on the 1st April. Aidan and Lusk AC want to thank everyone who took part in events to raise funds for Lusk for Lesotho.

Here we have a few St. Patrick’s Day photos of some of our Juvenile members, who took part in the Lusk St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Our Adult Hurlers and 2011 Boys teams are looking for new recruits, so we have included 2 photos for them. Our U16 Footballers & U14 Footballers and the Lusk players from the U15 Ros Lusca team finally got to receive their medals from last season. The players enjoyed their Awards Night on Friday 8th April in the clubhouse with all their coaches. The medals were presented by our Senior Footballer, Adam Caul. Well Done to all the players and their coaches and we wish them all the best for the season ahead.

Lusk Tidy Towns Association have expressed their thanks to Fingal County Council regarding the tidy towns work programme for 2022, ie for cutting back shrubbery on our Black Raven bed area on the Dublin Road, for agreeing to re-letter our Market Square Sculpture, and also to replace the old flower bed on the green area. The committee are running a school competition on “Be Kind to the Planet”. A clean-up of the Balrothery union graveyard has taken place. This is a yearly project run by Lusk Tidy Towns and Mass is held every November for the deceased that are buried there. As always thank you to everybody who helps ensure Lusk is kept looking well as we head towards the summer. Remember Keep Lusk Tidy and bin that Litter.”

The Lusk Mens walk and talk group meet at the Hub car park at 7:00pm every Monday for their weekly walk. This is open to all men and it’s an opportunity just get out of the house, have a nice walk, clear the head and have a chat if you wish. You can do it as a once off or every week, no joining necessary, just turn up. This group is organised by Ciaran Russell, so if you want to introduce yourself to him and before long you will find you have made new friends. So why not let any friends or neighbours know about it as new members are alaways welcome

There is a lot of community attention recently on the development of Lusk. Recent years have seen vast amounts of residential development around the area. While residential development is positive in so far as it provides housing, brings us new friends, and grows the community, it must be matched or preceded by the necessary infrastructural, social, recreational and commercial development that is required in order to have a balanced development of the town.Fingal County Council currently have their Development Plan open for consultation. If you have anything to say about how your town develops in the future then please submit an observation on fingal.ie/development-plan. You could submit an observation on anything including (but not limited to) litter, bins, traffic lights, speed signage/traffic calming measures on approaches to the town, proper road and footpath maintenance, blake’s cross junction improvement, lighting, housing, sports facilities, youth clubs, library, planning condition enforcement, no further residential development being permitted until the rest of the required development catches up, schools, council engagement with the community, etc. Lusk is our town. It’s up to us as a community to let the decision makers at local and national levels know what we want for our town. It is only through active engagement with the community that positive change can be delivered.Remember that the Summer Festival is coming up in June. LAG is looking for sponsorship from any local businesses and support from members of the community to help out on the day. As always, we are on the look out for new members of Lusk Action Group. If you have drive, enthusiasm, care about the future of our town and have some time to spare, please consider joining us. You can email us and we will get back to you on luskactiongroup@gmail.com.

At the April Council meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue welcomed the progression of plans for upgrading the cycling infrastructure in the Lusk area. As part of the Sustainable Transport Grants Lusk received €550k for cycling infrastructure from between Blakes Cross to Ministers Road. The design process for which is advancing to provide protected cycle paths for cyclists. Discussions are now ongoing with the Operations Dept. in relation to reducing the speed limit for the section between Kilhedge Lane and Ministers Road junction. The Active Travel Dept and Operations are collaborating to investigate if cycle paths can also be introduced on the section north of Ministers Road junction to Murtaghs Pub. Cllr O’Donoghue stated that ‘the identified works are much needed in order to improve the safety for road users in the Ministers Road area and the new ramps to be installed on Ministers Road will make commuting safer for all residents using the roads.’ In other Council news, Cllr O’Donoghue welcomed the recently installed pedestrian access gate within the Lusk Recreational Hub which will provide access to the adjacent schools. O’Donoghue continued “This installation should help in reducing the parking along the Lusk Bypass during busy school times as parents will able to use the carpark at the recreational hub and allow children to walk safely within the Hub to school. The connecting paths in the Hub will also be upgraded this year to facilitate safer travel to the schools for students in the town.”