Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) for proposed upgrade works to Killinarden Park and Green Infrastructure Corridor in Whitestown, Tallaght Technical Report April 21 Project number: 2020s0742 South Dublin County Council County Hall Tallaght DUBLIN 24 JBA Project Manager Jonathan Cooper 24 Grove Island Corbally LIMERICK Revision History Revision Ref / Date Issued Amendments Issued to S3-P01 / 1st April 2021 Draft SDCC S3-P01 Combined report and review Internal S4-P02 / 23 April 2021 Final SDCC A3-C01 / 29 April 2021 Final SDCC A3-C02 / 30 April 2021 Minor revision to Section SDCC 5.3.2 and Section 6.4.1 Contract This report describes work commissioned by South Dublin County Council, by a letter dated 27/05/2020. Malin Lundberg, Hannah Mulcahy and Patricia Byrne of JBA Consulting carried out this work. Prepared by .................................................. Patricia Byrne BSc (Hons) PhD MCIEEM Ecologist Malin Lundberg BSc MSc Ecologist Hannah Mulcahy BSc MSc Ecologist Reviewed by ................................................. Steven Heathcote BA DPhil MCIEEM Senior Ecologist Purpose This document has been prepared as a Final Report for South Dublin County Council. JBA Consulting accepts no responsibility or liability for any use that is made of this document other than by the Client for the purposes for which it was originally commissioned and prepared. JBA Consulting has no liability regarding the use of this report except to South Dublin County Council. Copyright © JBA Consulting Engineers and Scientists Limited 2021 Carbon Footprint A printed copy of the main text in this document will result in a carbon footprint of 305g if 100% post- consumer recycled paper is used and 388g if primary-source paper is used. These figures assume the report is printed in black and white on A4 paper and in duplex. JBA is aiming to reduce its per capita carbon emissions. DXX-JBAI-XX-XX-RP-BD-0001-A3-C02-EcIA_Killinarden GI and Landscape i Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Aims ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The Existing Site ................................................................................................................ 1 2 Project Description ................................................................................................. 2 2.1 Construction elements ....................................................................................................... 3 3 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 6 3.1 The EcIA team ................................................................................................................... 6 3.2 Policy and Legislation ........................................................................................................ 6 3.3 Guidance ............................................................................................................................ 6 3.4 Baseline ............................................................................................................................. 7 3.5 Screening of Ecological Features ....................................................................................... 10 3.6 Assessment of the Effects on Features .............................................................................. 10 3.7 Cumulative Impacts ............................................................................................................ 13 3.8 Constraints and Limitations ................................................................................................ 13 4 Baseline Conditions ............................................................................................... 14 4.1 Designated Sites ................................................................................................................ 14 4.2 Results of Site Visits .......................................................................................................... 18 4.3 Screening of Ecological Features ....................................................................................... 37 5 Impact Assessment ............................................................................................... 39 5.1 Designated Sites ................................................................................................................ 39 5.2 Impacts to habitats ............................................................................................................. 40 5.3 Impacts to species ............................................................................................................. 40 5.4 Cumulative Impacts ............................................................................................................ 42 5.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 45 6 Mitigation ............................................................................................................... 46 6.1 Do Nothing Scenario .......................................................................................................... 46 6.2 Construction Impacts to water quality ................................................................................ 46 6.3 Disturbance to Kingfisher during Construction ................................................................... 49 6.4 Operational Impacts to Bats ............................................................................................... 49 7 Residual Impact ..................................................................................................... 51 7.1 Recommended Enhancements .......................................................................................... 53 8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 55 References.......................................................................................................................... 56 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 58 A Killinarden Landscape and Green Infrastructure Corridor Design ........................ I B Habitat Maps .......................................................................................................... II C Fisheries report ...................................................................................................... IV D Relevant Policy and Legislation ............................................................................. VII E National Biodiversity Data Centre records ............................................................. IX DXX-JBAI-XX-XX-RP-BD-0001-A3-C02-EcIA_Killinarden GI and Landscape ii List of Figures Figure 1-1: Site location (Imagery: Bing maps) .................................................................. 1 Figure 2-1 Proposed design layout of the upgrade to Killinarden Park and route of the Green Infrastructure Corridor. A larger version with a legend of this design is in Appendix A. ....................................................................................................... 3 Figure 4-1: Statutory and non-statutory designated sites within the 10km Zone of Influence (OSM, 2021) ...................................................................................................... 15 Figure 4-2: Habitat map of Killinarden Park (OSM, 2021) .................................................. 19 Figure 4-3: Habitat Map of Whitestown Stream of proposed GI corridor (OSM, 2021) ...... 20 Figure 4-4: Killinarden Park- amenity grassland................................................................. 21 Figure 4-5: Semi-natural grassland by Whitestown Stream in Killinarden Park ................. 22 Figure 4-6: Dry neutral grassland and treeline/riparian woodland outside of the Park on the proposed route of the GI corridor. ..................................................................... 22 Figure 4-7: Semi-natural grassland with Common Centaury on the north side of the stream in Killinarden Park ............................................................................................. 23 Figure 4-8: Common Spotted Orchid and Oxeye Daisy on the south side of the stream in Killinarden Park ................................................................................................. 23 Figure 4-9: Birch tree cluster .............................................................................................. 24 Figure 4-10: Treeline along southern boundary. ................................................................ 25 Figure 4-11: Whitestown Stream in Killinarden Park with instream vegetation and concrete weir .................................................................................................................... 26 Figure 4-12: Location of static bat detectors installed along Whitestown Stream .............. 29 Figure 4-13: White-tailed Bumble Bee on Thistle in Killinarden Park ................................. 33 Figure 4-14: Location of aquatic invertebrate kick sampling survey (OpenStreetMap, 2021) ........................................................................................................................... 34