FAQ

What is a Community Vision for Garristown?

This is an invitation to the community who live, work or visit Garristown regularly to come together and engage in the development of a shared community vision for the future of this rural village. The task is to build on, and enhance the existing strengths and assets identified by the community through creative thinking, and by embracing innovation to create a desirable place for people to live and work in Garristown. In creating a community vision, local groups, businesses and individuals have the potential to overcome local challenges by exploring and implementing practical and tangible solutions. The methodology for the preparation of a community vision is based on the ‘Smart Villages’ concept that originated as a European Union initiative (for further information see video here).

Why is Garristown being chosen to progress this work?

Garristown was selected as one of four rural village typologies in the Fingal county area alongside Oldtown, Naul, and Ballyboughal.

The community vision emphasises a "bottom-up" approach, where local residents are actively involved in shaping their community's future. Community participation and engagement is paramount to helping Garristown become a place where people want to live and work.

Members of the community in Garristown formed a Vision Team formed in partnership with Garristown Community Council to carry out the Community Vision, and explore the implementation of new technologies and digital services to address the needs of Garristown. The Community Council is committed to strengthening the economic, social and environmental resilience of the community they represent.

When the Community vision is completed, this will provide a case study approach to help roll-out the Smart Villages programme across rural county Dublin in the coming years.

Who can get involved?

Anybody who lives, works or visits Garristown is welcome to engage with the project. The community vision has scope to think beyond the village itself too and involve those who work and live in the surrounding countryside.

Partnerships with other neighbouring villages are welcomed. We are particularly interested in gaining understanding from the community on how physical links to these neighbouring villages and towns surrounding Garristown could be strengthened.

Who in the community is running the project?

The Vision Team will liaise directly with the appointed consultants in the preparation of the Community Vision. This team is supported by the Garristown Community Council.

Who is delivering the work?

An architect-led, multi-disciplinary team of consultants were selected through a competitive tender and appointed by the Garristown Vision Team and the Garristown Community Council in March 2025. The consultant team is led by Islander Architects, who are based in Balbriggan, alongside an exciting partnership with New Practice and Civic Engineers.

Islander Architects are leading the project and will be the main point of contact for the Vision Team. New Practice will be supporting Islander Architects in the delivery of the community engagement and the delivery of the Garristown Community Vision Plan. Islander Architect's expertise of rural architecture, their experience of community engagement projects along with their local knowledge will support the development of a professionally prepared community vision. These efforts are supported by Civic’s experience of road engineering, sustainable urban drainage solutions and New Practices’ expertise in delivering regenerative placemaking projects, local place plans and resilient strategies across a range of urban, suburban and rural areas in Scotland.

The Consultant Team will provide their professional guidance and advice to the community through their public engagement and facilitation strategy. This engagement will be a crucial component of the subsequent Community Vision Plan prepared by the Consultant Team. However, it will ultimately be the responsibility of the Garristown Vision Team and Garristown Community Council to implement potential action areas identified in the Plan and to apply for the necessary funding to support these objectives.

How was Islander and their team chosen?

There was an invited tender announced in October 2024 seeking consultants to assist in the preparation of a Smart Village plan. Islander Architects responded to this invitation with their Smart Village methodology, along with their multi-disciplinary team and a quotation for professional services offered. The submitted tender was evaluated based on an agreed marking criteria. The proximity of Islander Architects to Garristown and the wide range of experience from the multi-disciplinary team were key strengths in their proposal.
The collaboration of Islander Architects with New Practice who hail from Glasgow in Scotland, along with Civic Engineers who have offices in Ireland, England and Scotland, will provide the community in Garristown with a professional and objective perspective to the formation of their Community Vision. Together the team have devised & delivered a variety of urban, suburban & rural public engagement projects.

Who is funding this work?

EU funding is delivered through Dublin Rural LEADER and awarded to Garristown Community Council who have partnered with the Garristown Vision Team to deliver the project. This funding will cover consultant fees and public engagement events organised as part of the Community Vision within 2025.

When will the project start and how long will it take?

An initial introductory meeting took place in the Garristown Community Centre with representatives from the Garristown Vision Team, the Garristown Community Council and the directors of Islander Architects on the 14th February 2025. Based on this meeting, the team of consultants prepared a public engagement strategy, project graphics and timeline for sign-off by the community representatives on the 8th April 2025 at a meeting with the community groups wider membership.

The project is due to be completed by the end of November 2025 in order to meet the parameters of the funding.

What opportunities will I have to get involved?

This is a community-led initiative, and so the plan will be directly informed by the residents, community groups, clubs, businesses and other stakeholders in Garristown.

To begin, a survey will be published online and in a paper format to collect responses from the whole community. The community survey provides the Consultant Team with a snapshot of the current strengths and constraints for social and economic development in Garristown. The survey will also ask the community to identify new opportunities for development along with potential future threats to the resilience of Garristown to retain their community spirit.

The results of this survey will form the basis for a series of consecutive public engagement events that will be facilitated by the Consultant Team from the 7-13th of June 2025. This week of engagement will be a combination of public workshops and invited focus groups with the aim to spark conversations about the future of the village, to encompass visions for both the built and natural environment. Thoughts are welcomed from the community on a range of topics including services, traffic, transport, environment, sports, recreational facilities, inclusion, heritage, arts, biodiversity, sustainability as well as the economic, social and cultural needs of the village.

A detailed list of events for this week of engagement, with times and locations will be released in May 2025. This website will be the main source of information and will be updated with the latest news for the project throughout the year. This will be complimented with adverts across social media and via posters erected in several locations across the village.

Help us spread the word and ensure that this community vision can benefit as many of our community members as possible.

What is the project boundary?

The focus for the majority of practical and tangible actions promoted in the community vision will be related to areas of Garristown contained within the rural village settlement boundary from the County Development Plan map 2023-2029. However, people who live within the Garristown electoral division boundary or those from further afield who identify with Garristown as their home or work place are welcome to be involved in the engagement for the project.‍

What will the outcomes of this work be?

It is important that potential strategic interventions to Garristown, as a result of the Community Vision, are reflective of the capacity and needs identified through the community survey and engagement events. This can be as simple as adapting existing community assets for new or additional uses e.g. the Community Centre, the GAA pitches etc. The consultant team will use their experience, skill and judgement to analyse the feedback gathered from the community to propose potential action areas. Together these action areas will form a vision for Garristown that is community-led, positive, achievable and feasible.

The emphasis of this Community Vision is to target actions that are achievable within a period of months, either through community fundraising or potential applications for funding support from other agencies as well as the local authority.

What are the next steps for this scheme in Garristown, and when can they be expected to happen?

A meet and greet with members of the Consultant Team took place at the Community Centre on the 8th April 2025. The proposed community engagement strategy was presented to members of the Vision Team and Community Council for feedback and sign-off .

The community survey launches in mid April and will be open to responses for a month. A week of community engagement is scheduled to take place across a number of times and venues across Garristown between 7-13th of June 2025.

The Consultant Team aims to deliver a draft of their Community Vision Plan for comments from the Vision Team and Community Council in August/September. Further updates on this time frame will be provided through this website.

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