Residents express concern about developer’s plans
By Aideen O'Flaherty
OVER 60 residents attended the Kingswood Heights Residents’ Association’s AGM in the local community centre on Monday evening, where topics included a lack of sports facilities in the area and plans for developments were discussed.
The attendees raised a number of issues during the course of the meeting, including concerns about developer Hibernia REIT’s plan to carry out a development on a local greenbelt.
Katharine Tynan House was discussed at the meeting
Sharlene Kennedy from the residents’ association told The Echo: “Residents attending expressed serious concern about Hibernia REIT’s plans to develop a large section of the green belt between Kingswood and Clondalkin.
“The land is zoned agricultural under the current county development plan and the Kingswood Heights Residents’ Association will be doing all it can to make sure it stays that way under the next county development plan, due to come into force in 2022.
“Residents were urged to make submissions to South Dublin County Council as soon as public consultation on the new county development plan opens next year.”
Five local councillors, Liam Sinclair (Green), Kieran Mahon (Solidarity), Charlie O’Connor (FF), Mick Duff (Ind) and Francis Noel Duffy (Green), were in attendance at the AGM and they all agreed to vote against any proposal to change the zoning of the site. Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy was also in attendance.
Other concerns raised during the meeting included the protection and preservation of Katharine Tynan House, the impact of the BusConnect scheme on the area, and the admissions policy for Kingswood Community School.
Explaining her contribution to the meeting, Ms Kennedy said: “I spoke about the current abandoned tennis court, and our plans to regenerate them and what we have done to date.
“I explained what’s lacking and what’s needed by the community. There are currently 13 teams of locals with zero training facilities in Kingswood.
“Our aim is for them to be completely regenerated into a Sports Facility Hub for the use of locals to train all year long, and safely. Local TDs and councillors in attendance backed this idea.
“To put it into some perspective, the men on our senior men’s team, Kingswood Castle Football Club, train on the same patch of grass they would’ve trained on in the early 90s for Kingswood FC Academy – almost 30 years of zero facilities.
“The absolute lack of them in Kingswood is shocking to say the least. Absolutely zero sporting facilities in Kingswood to date. We’re hoping to change that.”
Ms Kennedy added that the meeting was “very constructive”, and that the attendees were engaged and interested.
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