At the April Area Committee meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue tabled a motion regarding the dangers of future increased traffic along the Station Road ,Lusk, linked to the new housing development and town centre and called for safe crossing points for current and future residents.Cllr O’Donoghue stated that ‘The area will be used by current and new residents accessing the new Lidl which will be constructed post the lifting of Covid restrictions. The increased traffic that this will bring will primarily affect residents of the surrounding estates and nursing home and provision should be made now to ensure the safety of residents accessing the new town centre and our nursing home.’ The response from the Council stated that a number of pedestrian crossings are to be provided, to facilitate access to the new development on Station Road. A zebra crossing will be provided on the Station Road arm of the Remount Roundabout. To the west of the entrance to the Community Centre, a raised table and uncontrolled crossing will be provided to provide access to the new town centre.Cllr O’Donoghue hailed the decision stating that ‘the new town centre will be used not only by residents of Lusk but also of surrounding towns, which will bring revenue into the town and that is welcomed. I am happy to see that the safety of pedestrians is also to be prioritised for residents accessing the new town centre.’

Lusk Tidy Towns recently launched our work programme for 2021. Thank You to the community for collecting litter!. Stay Safe. Pat Kelly (photo by Brian Egan) .

By Brian Arnold

May 2021 is a key month for looking to the future of Fingal and Lusk. The 12th May is the submission date for the first stage of the Fingal Development Plan while the 27th May is the date for submissions on the Fingal Coastal Way. In advance of these dates Lusk Community Council consultants, working on the Lusk Vision 2030, will be giving feedback on what you have told them. We hope that this feedback will help you to frame your submissions for Fingal County Council.We are mid-way through the Lusk Vision 2030, the consultants have completed extensive consultation both online and via virtual workshops. This represents a first for Lusk and the Community Council. The timing is very important as it is helping to frame the submission which will be made to Fingal County Council in advance of the 12th May deadline. We have to emphasise the importance of the Fingal Development Plan which will run to 2029. This document will affect all of our lives, so please take time to thInk about it and make a submission. Your views are what is important. Please do not take other peoples views and reheat them for your submission. Take 15 minutes to think about what you want and sketch out your ideas, write them down and submit via the Fingal County Council consultation portal. Fingal have set out 7 themes to make is easier to connect with and understand the process i.e.1. People & Place , 2. Climate Change,3. Connectivity and movement,4. Employment, economy and Dublin Airport,5. Cultural heritage, 6. Green infrastructure and natural heritage,7. Infrastructure and utilities.Covid 19 has brought so much more information online and Fingal County Council has made great progress in explaining the 7 themes and how you can engage on the new Development Plan via their website . This is important so take your 15 minutes to engage.The level 5 lockdown has prevented the commencement of the construction contract for the Lusk Community Cultural Centre on Church Road. However it is hoped that work will have commenced by the time that you are reading this article. Looking forward over coming months, if thevaccination programme does what we hope it will, we look forward to the reopening of our community facilities in Lusk and Fingal. Fingers crossed. Stay Safe, Suppress The Virus, Protect Each Other.

At the March Area meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue tabled a motion regarding the Lusk Sports Hub. Virtual engagement between the Council and the 2020 Sport Group has continued during the current lockdown, the group were advised that further development of the Hub is contingent on the transfer to the Council of the balance of open space zoned land by the developer so that the key sporting infrastructure objectives can be met. Cllr O’Donoghue welcomed the continued engagement and urged the speedy delivery of remaining Class 1 Open Space to the Council for the benefit of the all the community in Lusk.In other Council news, the Fingal Development Plan 2023 - 2029 public consultation was opened on the 12th of March and will be open until the 12th of May. Councillor O’Donoghue ask that the people of Lusk have their say in development of Lusk into the future by making your submission on how you would like to see the town develop on the FCC website. The Council have also committed to bringing the pathway at the top of Orylnn Park which has been in need of repair for some time up to standard in the calendar year.

All may be quiet on the pitches of Lusk United Football Club, but behind the scenes the club is very much active. The club’s Youth Council, newly formed before Covid, are unable to interact with members as first planned…but they’ve not let a pandemic stop them. Rather, they have formed their very own ‘Skillz School’, broadcasting through the club’s social media platforms, urging younger members to get involved and get active. Indeed, The Youth Council took a front seat organising the St. Patrick’s Day Virtual Parade, which was a huge success. We are so proud of these young people getting involved in their club and community in a positive way. Follow their hashtag, #luskutdYC, to keep an eye on what they’re up to. On International Women’s Day, we celebrated our 30% female members aged 18 or under, female mentors and managers, ladies kick fit team and our female volunteers. Our girls team members reflected upon what sport and being part of Lusk United means to them. It was truly heart-warming to hear the girl’s thoughts and reflections. We were delighted to be joined by Jamie Finn, Irish International player. Jamie sent a contribution to the club’s International Women’s Day video, encouraging all girls to believe with determination and hard work anything is possible. Jamie has also been working via zoom with the U-11 girls team during lockdown…ready for the much awaited return to football.One of our academy coaches, left in October to go on tour with The Irish Army. A few months later a message was sent by Coach Paul asking if any jerseys or football boots could be collected and sent to Mali. An SOS call was sent out. We were overwhelmed by the response from the Lusk community, St. Michael’s House and from Paul Keogh of the FAI. A huge shipment was sent to Mali. We are delighted to hear it has arrived safely this week and Coach Paul is back doing what he does best…coaching soccer. All in all a busy month for us, but one which embraces our ethos #workhard #havefun.

The recent Lusk 4 mile Virtual race was a tremendous success with over 700 registrations including over 200 Juvenile entries of the Thomas Ashe Dash. This was the highest number of juvenile entries in a Virtual race since lockdown began. We really appreciate the support of local athletes, other club runners and sponsors in making the event so successful. Thanks also to Annette Foy and Nicole Hodson for organising the event. There were some fantastic times recorded with Darren Ryan and Alex Bell retaining their titles as fastest male and female Lusk AC athletes.We would like to congratulate members for continuing their own training during this extended lockdown. Some of the times recorded over the last few months have been phenomenal and show the hard work being put in is really paying dividends. We are very excited to resume group training once allowed.The 40 day Sunrise Challenge is almost at an end. Well done to everyone who took part.

There is an old saying – the secret to getting ahead is getting started and that’s what we at Junsa have done, instead of waiting for lockdown to finish, and an end to restrictions so we can train together safely , we have gone training , online, and separately but together.Even though our students are safely training at home they are training together where they can still see and chat ( but not too much !) to each other over our Zoom training sessions.While it’s still not the same the students are still keeping their fitness and Taekwondo skills up to date.The club made their kick pads available to the students for home training, which means they need someone to hold the pads,and in steps the mams and dadsw to help out.It’s great to see the parents and guardians getting involved in the students sport.Well done to everyone , and huge thank you to all for the support. Here are some of our students training at home via Zoom.A huge thank you to everyone who has kept up their training online and we hope to see everyone back for training face to face as soon as it’s safe to do so.

At the March area meeting of Fingal County Council Cllr Brian Dennehy raised the issues of works required to be carried out at the Open Space at Chapel Farm Drive, Lusk and also the need for bollards at Rogerstown Estuary . Having previously allocated 100,000 Euro for the works in the 2021 – 2013 budget the Manager outlined the planned works to be carried out. “The additional area of land was acquired by Fingal County Council in 2016 when the remainder of public open space in Chapel Farm was taken in charge from the Receiver. It remains the intention of the Council to merge this additional area of land which is fenced off and not landscaped, with the adjacent developed Class 1 Public Open Space. There is provision in the 2021-2023 Capital Programme to commence landscaping works to facilitate the incorporation and merging of the two pieces of land. Initial works planned for 2021 /2022 are to remove the railings and reposition them to the rear boundary of the site. This will be followed with some earth moving to level and grass seed the new land. When these works settle it will be possible to start planning a perimeter pathway and a more detailed layout for the site. A corner of the site is currently being used as a Pyrite remediation holding area, so once that is vacated the council will be free to commence further works.” Mr Dennehy also welcomed Fingal County Councils positive response to erecting lockable bollards at the access points to Rogerstown Estuary as a measure to combat the large escalation of fly tipping in the area. He said, “ The stretch of the estuary which is accessible from both Lusk and Rush has witnessed in recent months, what can be only described as fly tipping on an industrial scale as rogue dumpers are taking advantage of the ready access to the area. Only the usage of trucks or other large vehicle would explain the volume of material dumped on occasions. Having chased after the implementation of the bollards over a long period of time it is great that the Council also see the benefit by having restricted access to the area while at the same time accommodation of local landowners as they work their lands. Removable bollards are listed on the general works list for installation at the entry points of Rogerstown Estuary from the access point at Rogerstown Park, and between the ramparts leading onto the Channel Road. However, discussion will have to take place with the landowner who utilises this area to access his lands.”

Our 1st AGM was held via Zoom on the 1st March. It was well attended and there was good cross party public representation, attended by our own committee member, Cllr Rob O’Donoghue, Cllr Brian Dennehy, Cllr Adrian Henchy, Louise O’Reilly TD, Duncan Smith TD and Senator Regina Doherty. Minister Joe O’Brien continues to meet us frequently. We are grateful of their support and will be in continuing need of it over the coming years to deliver Lusk’s 2030 plan. We are pleased to note the repair of the road at the Rush Roundabout. We continue to communicate with Fingal County Council regarding the narrowing of the pathway on the Station Road. It has become very dangerous, and we have been requesting a repair of this for 6 months. We would like to hear from anyone who has interest in being involved in a Lusk Men’s Shed. You can contact us on 0863017842 . The Fingal Development Plan public consultation period is now open until the 12th May. Submissions and observations are invited on what is to be included in the draft of the new plan. This is a critical time for the community to be engaged. All land rezoning takes place during the development plan. Once land is rezoned for residential, there is very little the community can do to stop housing development taking place. We want to avoid this happening in this development plan as any more housing would be simply unsustainable in Lusk. So we need as many voices as possible to be very clear about what Lusk does and does not need. We need clear opposition to any more zoning for residential. The building and completion of schools, the provision of amenity, the improvement of road infrastructure, a strategic plan for traffic management at Blake’s Cross, the improvement of rail and bus services and the provision of leisure amenity for our young people. And, importantly, the maintenance of the green space between Rush and Lusk.You can make a submission at the County Council’s website.