An aerial view of the lands between Ballyfermot and Inchicore
Rezoned lands will provide up to 5,000 homes
Lands in Ballyfermot and Inchicore will be rezoned to provide up to 5,000 new housing units, under a massive “re-imaging” project for Dublin city.
The plans fall under the City Edge project, announced in 2022, which will see over 700 hectares of brownfield land in the Naas Road, Ballymount and Park West areas on the western edge of Dublin city centre redeveloped over a 50-year timescale.
Councillors at the Dublin City South Central Area committee meeting on November 19 were presented with the plans to rezone sites around the south and east of the Inchicore Railworks, and industrial sites along the Jamestown and Kylemore Roads, incorporating lands owned by ESB and the OPW.
The move to redevelop the ‘Kylemore District’ comes as Dublin City Council must now deliver over 8,000 housing units per year from 2025 to 2034 under the targets set by the Department of Housing under the National Planning Framework in July.
According to DCC planner Ronan Fallon, the lands in Kylemore have been identified as “priority lands” that can be rezoned at a faster rate than some of the other sites identified under the City Edge project.
He said it would require the lands to be rezoned from industrial and enterprise use to “Z14 which is our Strategic Development and Regeneration Area zoning”.
The overall urban design of the area will be structured around two anchor centres, with the bulk of commercial and retail development centered around the proposed Kylemore rail station to the west of the site.
The Michael Scott Chassis factory, currently owned by the OPW, is earmarked for a significant educational, social or cultural site within the plan.
The land-use plan stated that between 4,200 and 5,300 homes will be provided on the lands, for a population of 11,000 to 13,400.
Up to 170,000 sq m of “employment floorspace” for commercial enterprises will also be built, potentially providing up to 8,000 jobs, Mr Farrow said.
Up to three schools, new community parks, and cultural, social and community spaces are also provided for in the plan.
Councillors at the South Central meeting welcomed the plan, but called for planners to meet with local groups around Kylemore, Inchicore and Ballyfermot to make sure it meets their needs.
Cllr Darragh Moriarty (Lab) said that planners “should be trying to meet as many groups as possible”, and to bring them along in such a major planning development.
Cllr Vincent Jackson (Ind) noted that there was a “sizeable number of employers” still operating within the proposed rezoning area and asked for assurance that those would not be adversely affected by the rezoning.
“We shouldn’t be doing anything that will interfere with local employment because that reduces the necessity for people to have to travel to work – if we get rid of all the employers, we’ll just put more traffic on the roads,” he said.
DCC deputy city planner Malachy Bradley said that the plans would be presented for approval by all Dublin City councillors at the next full council meeting on Monday, December 1, before heading to the public consultation stage later that month.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
