Thanks, Fingal County Council.

Khannie

Not a hint of sarcasm. They get heaped with a lot of criticism, but it's easy to overlook the really good things that the council do. This thread is about pointing out the nice things, so away you go.

The Hill Billy

Nice one, Khannie!

I especially appreciate my 'back garden' - Ardgillan Castle. Even with the occasional gridlock we have to suffer with visitors on sunny Saturday & Sunday afternoons - it is worth it. A fantastic amenity!

martinn123

Living in a Rural area of DCN, we are often plagued by Fly-Tipping.

To be fair to FCC, I find that a message sent to their Twitter account will produce a clean up within days.

Paulw

I appreciate the work they give me ... nah ... I think they run some great events. This Swords Summer Festival looks good.

The Muppet

Yeah, And they gave us that beautiful building in the middle of Swords, Who needed a town park anyway?

Dizzyblonde

The Muppet wrote: »

Yeah, And they gave us that beautiful building in the middle of Swords, Who needed a town park anyway?

They gave us a much-needed building, and jobs for the town in place of a park I never would have felt safe taking my children into when they were little. But maybe that's just me.
They're developing the castle and surrounding area, I'm delighted about that There's a nice park there too.

This is the positive thread about the council.

Tilly

The pretty roundabouts in Swords

The Hill Billy

The Muppet wrote: »

Yeah, And they gave us that beautiful building in the middle of Swords, Who needed a town park anyway?

Not in the spirit of the thread. Let's keep it positive.
If you want to bitch/moan about FCC - start another thread.

tHB

mickmmc

The hanging baskets and flowers have really brightened up Main St., Swords, which were put up in the last few weeks. A small investment, in relative terms, by Fingal Council has been really worth it.

The new 'Welcome to Swords' signs (recently fitted) sponsored by DAA look nice.

pinkypinky

I second the roundabouts. The Estuary roundabout had lovely daffodils and then almost immediately very pretty purple flowers I don't know the name of.

Stheno

pinkypinky wrote: »

I second the roundabouts. The Estuary roundabout had lovely daffodils and then almost immediately very pretty purple flowers I don't know the name of.

Do you know the first sight I get of those each year cheers me up no end

BrensBenz

Khannie wrote: »

Not a hint of sarcasm. They get heaped with a lot of criticism, but it's easy to overlook the really good things that the council do. This thread is about pointing out the nice things, so away you go.

Fair Dues, Khannie, you're right!

Any organisation is only as good as its people and I've found FCC's staff, either on the phone or in person, to be switched on to the concept of customer satisfaction. That's not easy when funds are tight and you've been the butt of criticism and jokes for generations.

Of course, they're not perfect - who is? - but FCC, often in combination with some really excellent local groups, are working hard to make positive differences to our community.

Have a look around. Even the grizzliest of slaggers must agree that our little corner of the world looks great and is a nice place to live! Little things, e.g. of all things, our beautiful roundabouts, walkways, etc! Fun things, e.g. the new "Seal Family" in Floraville, Skerries and kids' playgrounds. Major things, e.g. Ardgillan. Serious things, e.g. their contribution to the recent Darkness into Light events. So, Well Done and Thanks, FCC.

The Muppet

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

They gave us a much-needed building, and jobs for the town in place of a park I never would have felt safe taking my children into when they were little. But maybe that's just me.
They're developing the castle and surrounding area, I'm delighted about that There's a nice park there too.

This is the positive thread about the council.

Never thought of it that way, If only there had been any green field sites available on the outskirts of the town how things could have been different.

I'll leave ye to your positivity , the gods appear to dislike my viewpoint.

yknaa

The walkway around the head in Skerries and its extension all the way up beyone the brook. It has made the whole area accessible for buggys and wheelchair users.

Long term lease on Ardgillan and the snazz playground (thanks also to REM!)

Helping make our beaches clean and safe with employment of lifeguards during the summer.

Khannie

Few things myself (I had written up a post yesterday, but the internet ate it, weirdly).

The playgrounds are fantastic. Recently saw some French kids over on holiday playing in Malahide castle playground and they were having super craic. I honestly haven't seen playgrounds of better quality anywhere in the world. Maybe they exist, but I haven't seen them and I'm well travelled.

The parks are great. Every weekend we make use of Ardgillan, Malahide castle or Newbridge house.

I also think the roundabouts in Swords look great.

The recent work to improve the areas leading to the Skerries train station (and the bridge across the ballast pit) are real improvements.

We had some issues with antisocial behaviour caused by a fenced area near our house a few years back. The council worked actively with the Gardai at the time and after some discussion removed the fence. Things improved dramatically as a result.

The recent improvements near the duck pond at Skerries mill are very good and have improved safety for kids and visibility of the wildlife there.

I think it's cool to have the public exercise equipment in various places (Malahide castle, Lusk bypass, Skerries south strand that I'm aware of and I'm sure there's more).

dubsontour

I think they do deserve huge credit especially their staff. Any time I've had cause to call them about with a variety of problems I've found them more than helpful.
Also the entrance to Kenure park has been looking really well this year.

neris

I spend alot of time in Howth especially on weekends have often left the place as a mess of over filled bins and discarded chip boxes and in fairness to Fingal early the next morning they,ll have a few lads out on their vans empty bins, picking up rubbish and tidying the place up for that days hoardes

cbreeze

.... and not forgetting the Library Service for books, cds dvds, electronic books, text alerts for your borrowings and reasonable charges for ordering books including just-published (well, you may have to wait a bit for popular ones)

Arthur Daley

Newbridge house is a great park and facility for donabate and swords
In the last few years I reckon it's got more and more popular at weekends.

On a warm summer evening after work it's a great place for a civilised walk or run to clear the head and admire nature.

Dizzyblonde

I love Newbridge House too, and it looks like they're going to redevelop it including putting in new visitor facilites

http://www.northcountyleader.ie/2015/06/16/newbridge-house-to-be-redeveloped/

Murt10

And the allotments that they provide at a much cheaper rate than the private sector.

They are actually in the process of giving out new ones at the moment, for anyone that's interested.

Here's the link

http://www.fingalcoco.ie/environment/allotments/

dslamjack

The council do trojan work every year,for the blessing's of the grave's. Let alone just the usual upkeep of the many graveyard's around NCD.

expectationlost

I think that FCC website does a good job with tech to follow meetings etc (although it still hard, and not perfect) but I think the new planning alerts system is great.

they have been doing email/sms water weather and roadworks alerts for a while based on your location but now they are doing planning alerts, they were always listed but you'd wouldn't necessarily make a habit of checking and reading through the lists.

now they have is a weekly summary of any planning applications (new or updated) within 2km of your home. Its a Mapalerter service created by PinPointAlerts

http://www.fingalcoco.ie/news-and-events/fingalalerts/latest-alerts/ its started in June

cathy01

The library over the summer.last month my kids did two events and loved it. No charge ,it was fantastic

Dizzyblonde

Well the proposed Cultural Quarter in Swords looks good and if they go ahead with it, it will be of huge benefit to the Fingal area: http://www.fingalcoco.ie/planning-and-buildings/swordsculturalquartermasterplan/
There's a link to the masterplan at the bottom.

There's also an online survey so the public can share their views on the Civic and Cultural Centre: https://consult.fingal.ie/en/content/survey-proposed-swords-civic-and-cultural-centre

McAlban

They do a great Job in and around the big parks and the larger urban areas. The Other half commented last night about the beautiful hanging baskets all over Swords Castle.

They don't get everything right however. and unfortunately some of the decisions are purely politcal.

Paulw

Fingal Co Co had a family fun day recently in Blanch. We took our 2 yr old. She had a brilliant time. Ok, the place was very busy, and there were long queues for some things, but it was all free and great. Well organised.

tobsey

Excellent fireworks display tonight in swords castle. We took a break from trick-or-treating and went over. Well worth it.

Stheno

tobsey wrote: »

Excellent fireworks display tonight in swords castle. We took a break from trick-or-treating and went over. Well worth it.

It was superb, we took it in while driving to Howth to dinner.

On the way back we tried to get into Octoberfest, but it was sold out.

Staff were lovely to deal with.

Lovely to see the castle being used

The Muppet

Yep have to agree the fireworks display was spectacular well done to all involved.

Paulw

The fireworks were just brilliant.






Great viewing from all around.