Save The Bridgefoot Street Park
On Wednesday the 11th of May 2016 a public meeting took place in response to Dublin City Council’s decision to cancel the design workshops for the proposed Bridgefoot Street Park. Presently the site at Bridgefoot Street is an empty allotment – half being used as a local Community Garden – and the reason for the “Bridgefoot Campaign”.
The site has been standing empty for a number of years now, but the plan to have it turned into a park for local residents has been on the table for a number of years as well. Residents from the local Dublin 8 area have been hard at work in recent months to see what they can do about getting Dublin City Council to agree that the site should be given up for green space where families and students in the area can enjoy an outdoor park.
The area is one of a few Dublin areas where there is no green space for miles. There are 1,928 residential units in the proximity, making that an estimated 4,000 people who live in this part of Dublin 8, but no parks or lawns for young people, children, students or families to enjoy the outdoor environment.
The meeting was called to call the community together for suggestions on how they can save the site from being sold off to developers, who have now become interested in the site for housing. The Bridgefoot Park committee team was emailed on the 30th of April 2016 and told that the workshops that were organised for the 4th of May and the 11th of May have been cancelled.
Landscape Architect, Dermot Foley, agreed to host design workshops where the community can get involved with the design and creation of their own park. Two workshops were agreed on, but sadly cancelled without much explanation. In response to the question why it was cancelled an email sent back stated that “The land is under the review by the Housing Department – Housing development has an interest in the site”.
Councillor Tina MacVeigh, for the People Before Profit party, headed last night’s meeting. She has been involved with the campaign for a year now. Councillor Tina addressed the problem of no green space or outdoor activities available for local residents. The student apartments right next to the Bridgefoot Garden site will be finished in coming months, that makes for 450-460 students who would benefit from some recreational space.
But if they decide to use the site for the building of more houses, there won’t be any outdoor park or space for them either. Tina said that “The message we need to get to Dublin City Council is that we want a park here!”.
“Thanks to everyone who turned out to the public meeting tonight – the room was packed and there was some great suggestions put forward. We will be in touch soon when we have the next committee meeting organised and anyone is welcome to attend.
One clear message came out of the room tonight – we will unite, we will fight and we will win!” Tina MacVeigh said on Facebook.
Also at last night’s meeting was newly selected Sinn Fein Senator, Maire Devine, there on behalf of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. She suggested that summer activities be incorporated on the garden site with more pop-up parks and that the community gets together and claim the site for themselves by using it all the time for activities.
She also mentioned the upcoming Council Meeting on the 12th of June and Development Plan Meeting in May as an opportunity to get campaigning. She mentioned that local residents at St. Teresa’s Gardens are having the same fight for green space and that Bridgefoot should join the fight there and unite for more green space.
Another very important request at last night’s meeting was that the site be considered for a Z9 zone by the end of May and not the suggested Z5 zone. A Z9 zone would mean only recreational and green space and this is what the community ultimately needs.
Some suggestions from public representatives and locals at the meeting were:
Getting the media involved
Drawing up a petition
Using the site as a pop-up park on weekends, until planning permission is granted
Use the community garden on Saturday mornings, get more active in the environment
Send emails for petition to Owen Keegan and Dick Brady
Get volunteers involved
Remove rubble from site and start cleaning it up
Lobby local TD’s and Councillors
Join the Facebook page and like it
Timeline of Key Events
Dublin City Council Plans For Site
2003 – site was zoned for PPP development when the 1960’s flat complexes were torn down
2007 – Local CDP take over and set up Community Garden
2008 – Area Plan for Liberties: Develop a significant new park at Bridgefoot Street that will create linkages to Oliver Bond, Watling Street, the Digital Hub and the Liffey.
2014 – Liberties Greening Strategy: Bridgefoot Street – to develop a 1 hectare area a high quality neighborhood park
2016 – Liberties showcase and Investment Forum: Public Realm Investment: New Public Park at Bridgefoot Street
Campaign
May 2015 – Public meeting in Liberties on Development – issue of park is raised
June 2015 – Community Campaign established
Motion tabled to Council local area committee June 2015 – Following response from Management: “A vacant site at Bridgefoot Street site is included in the Liberties Greening Strategy. It is planned to develop a 1 hectare area as a high quality neighbourhood park that provides for a range of recreation and events, improves urban permeability and delivers a range of ecosystem services. Phase 1 works to create 20 individual allotment plots and a community garden are now complete and both areas are now under cultivation. Although it is expected that a detailed design will be prepared for the area later this year it is not possible to say at this stage when the necessary finance will be made available for construction works to commence.” (South Central Area Office)
June 2015 and March 2016 – Development Plan Motions to Re-zone site to Z9
October 2015 – First meeting with DCC South Central Area Office, €10,000 allocated to fund workshops
November 2015 – First public meeting
December 2015 – Invitation for Tenders from Landscape Architects
April 2016 – Landscape Architects appointed and workshop dates set
April/May 2016 – Pop Up Park Event at Bridgefoot Street, first consultations with community
4th and 11th May 2016 – Workshops planned
April 30th (Bank Holiday Friday!) – Email received at 5pm cancelling workshops!!!
Hashtags: #BridgefootStreetPark 
