Tallaght Community Council questions apartments-only developments
By Alannah Kenny
TALLAGHT Community Council has recently submitted 70 specific requests for developments to be made regarding the Tallaght Town Centre plan.
Plans to redevelop Tallaght Town Centre into a modern local hub were first introduced in October, 2006 and were revisited in 2011 with no other progress made.
According to the PRO of Tallaght Community Council, Tara de Buitléar, the ideas were welcomed by Tallaght Community Council. However, in 2017, they are concerned that the goal is not being achieved.
In the primary planning stages in 2006, rezoning the entire area all at once was the plan set out. However, Tallaght Community Council advocated instead for a phased approach which would see streets being redeveloped one at a time.
Ms de Buitléar explains that the project was stalled during the recession and that the quality, materials and design of the buildings that have been developed since (which has been mostly apartments) is “very mixed”.
The issue now, de Buitléar explains, is the amount of empty street-level retail units left in the Belgard Square area, and the 20-plus apartment blocks in the town centre which are privately rented schemes with increasing rents, posing problems for families wishing to set up home.
Tallaght Community Council have now questioned the construction of apartment-only housing developments in the town centre.
They have also criticised the “mixed use” of the centre rather than restricting it to just “commercial” or “light industrial” use.
Rather than increasing jobs, de Buitléar states that there has been a “drain on jobs” due to large businesses choosing to leave as apartment development emerges over retail development.
Among 70 requests were issued by the Community Council last week which will help to attract home buyers into the town centre now that the economy has improved.
Some of the urgent requests highlighted includ-ed developing a mix of housing options and moving away from large-scale apartment schemes, upgrad-ing the Whitestown Business Park Frontage, developing Cookstown village and a plan to limit more takeaways in retail centres.
Chairman of the Tallaght Community Council, Gerry Stockil, claims that “the proof of the pudding will be in the eating” in regards to the next draft that South Dublin County Council will be providing in a few months.
The full Council submission can be requested by emailing tallaghtperson@gmail.com
