An update about trees and footpath in Ballinteer. A number of people have been in touch with me about the closed path on Ballinteer Drive at the back of Ballinteer Shopping Centre where there are trees and a wall. Contractors have been cutting down parts of the trees over the past couple of weeks.
The trees are evergreen and not of any great value to biodiversity. The tree roots started growing under the wall damaging it and making the public footpath unsafe adjacent to it. Once the risk to pedestrians was assessed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the footpath had to be closed off.
I have been in touch with the owners of Ballinteer Shopping Centre and their representative has shared the following with me:
- Contractors for the owners have started taking down the wall and the trees. The whole wall and all the trees at the back of Ballinteer Shopping Centre will be removed over the coming weeks.
- The wall will be reconstructed first, in a way that is safe for pedestrians and also provides screening from the car park for local residents. This part of the project should be finished by October. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown will re-open the footpath as soon as an engineer signs off that there are no risks to pedestrians. I hope this will happen by October at the latest.
- Starting November, the owners of the shopping centre will begin replanting trees, using diverse species of trees with an emphasis on biodiversity and native species. This will take time and they will take time to grow to maturity too.
- Disruption to users of the shopping centre will be minimised at all times. Please get in contact with me if there are any major issues.
- Once finished, there should be better trees and a safer footpath on Ballinteer Drive.
The Ballinteer shopping centre owners will be putting up these signs for your info:
