69 new council homes are planned for Balgaddy site
By Hayden Moore
PLANS for 69 council homes and a community centre received the greenlight recently for a site just off Griffeen Avenue in Balgaddy, Lucan after the monthly meeting of South Dublin County Council.
The Balgaddy site has been earmarked for residential development for over 20 years, with the current plans to deliver 69 homes significantly lower than the originally proposed 120 homes from 1999.
Having reduced the number of units to 74 following a public consultation process, the council further reduced the proposal to 70 homes and a community facility to meet the concerns of local residents in the neighbouring Foxbourough estate.
Among the concerns was that some of the proposed three-story buildings would impact on the privacy of the neighbouring residents in Foxbourough Lawns, which the buildings overlooked.
This resulted in Cllr Danny O’Brien putting forward an amendment to change the three-story building at the entrance to the estate off Griffeen Avenue to a two-story, which was subsequently passed.
The current passed Part 8 plans for the Balgaddy site will contain 20 three-bedroom four-person houses, 25 three-bedroom five-person houses, eight one-bedroom ground floor apartments, eight three-bedroom four-person duplex apartments, eight two-bedroom three-person apartments and a community facility.
According to Mayor Mark Ward, the plans delivered at the meeting on Monday evening “will see a large community centre on par with Knockmitten Community Centre”.
It was agreed that over 600sq metres of space would be left around the centre for “future community infrastructure” like a playground or allotments, while inside the building will see a reception space, café, activity hall, youth area, kitchen, office space and a large meeting room among other things.
During the meeting, Cllr Francis Timmons expressed some concerns with the development of the area with the current area in Balgaddy plagued with several issues over the last number of years.
“15 years ago, Balgaddy was supposed to be modelled on a sustainable community living, meant to be the best in South Dublin and it’s been let down desperately,” he said.
“The issues that we have, which have been well worn out and said at every level, anti-social behaviour, drugs, mould, damp, no playground and a lack of facilitates.
“I feel like a lot of people in Balgaddy are sceptical of the council, and sceptical of councillors because they’ve been let down like we said by previous councils and in part this council aswell.”
Cllr Timmons then continued on that the high deprivation rate in the area brings about a level of scepticism of the council for both current residents and himself.
“I just want to point out that in Balgaddy at the minute, there’s a deprivation rate of about 57 percent… I think these are all factors that we want to build a sustainable community,” pointed out Cllr Timmons.
“I hope, and I take this with good faith, that the council will have learned from past mistakes and won’t end up with another area with the issues that we have here at the minute.
“I think it’s a positive development, there’s nothing very negative about it but I’m sceptical whether the council will deliver, and I hope I’m wrong.”
The Council also confirmed during the meeting that €500k had been set aside for maintenance works in Balgaddy, that would deal with current issues such as mould and leaks among others.
