476 acres of land rezoned from rural to enterprise
By Maurice Garvey
THE rezoning of close to 500 acres of rural land in Grange Castle West, was passed by councillors at a meeting in South Dublin County Council recently.
Proposals to amend the county development plan and rezone 476 acres of land at Grange Castle West from rural to enterprise and employment, were forward by SDCC at a range of committee meetings over the last 20 months.
The issue was discussed at a lively county council meeting in February, with a number of councillors caught off guard by the scale of the proposal.
SDCC say it forms part of their policy in supporting sustainable economic expansion in the county.
The sprawling landbank includes Grange, Ballybane, Peamount, Milltown, and is located to the south west of Clonburris, where proposals to build over 8,000 homes were published last year.
People Before Profit and Solidarity councillors, submitted a proposal for a new town containing 2,000 homes at Peamount, to be considered within the subject lands.
PBP Councillor Madeleine Johansson said 200 acres of land in the area may not be ideal for housing, but the site contains access to infrastructure and transport links.
“It is about opening up a conservation on larger scale housing developments, but SDCC don’t have the will for large-scale, rather relying on small infill social housing developments,” said Cllr Johansson.
“There was no facility for us to put forward a counter-proposal and there was no engagement from management to discuss plans for large scale housing construction in the area.
She continued: “I don’t know if any companies have expressed an interest in this area, and there is already quite a bit of available land in the existing Grange Castle.”
Following the February meeting, SDCC initiated a four-week public consultation period.
According to the council’s report on this public consultation, the proposal to rezone a portion of land at Peamount for residential use, was outside of the remit of the variation as currently proposed.
The report said the National Planning Framework does not support development of a new town on greenfield lands, and encourages the consolidation of urban development on brownfield/infill sites.
It also states provision has been made for 1,195 hectares of lands zoned for residential development within the county at Adamstown, Clonburris and Kilcarbery “all within 4 kilometres of the subject lands”.
Issues raised regarding clarification of information contained within the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment “pertained to lands outside of the proposed variation and would not prejudice the basis of the report”.
As part of the development of this land, a masterplan will be prepared by SDCC.
