Development proposals could radically reshape future of new town near 720-acre Enniskerry site

Ambitious plans for a new town on a 720-acre site at Ballyman near Enniskerry on the Dublin / Wicklow border, are to be the subject of a public meeting in Bray tonight.

The Enniskerry Community Alliance is to examine all available information on the Cosgrave Group proposal for the development which has the potential to encompass a population of up to 15,000 people.

The Community Alliance has asked members of Wicklow and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to attend the meeting, which is to be held in the Esplanade Hotel Bray, to outline their positions on the development.

However, given the style of the questions already raised, which relate to the scenic nature of the area, its status as a greenbelt, the relationship of the proposals to the Strategic Planning Guidelines and the road network in the area, the meeting does not look set to endorse the development company's ambitions.

They are unlikely to be deterred however. Apparently it is preparing a comprehensive submission for rezoning, prior to the 2002 redrafting of the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown county development plan.

Despite the explicit rejection of plans for a 6,000 job industrial park at Fassaroe, it is intended to continue to pursue this project also. The proposed Fassaroe industrial park lies in County Wicklow, just across the county border from the Ballyman site. Bord Developments, which aims to develop the industrial park, is a company controlled by the Cosgrave brothers who also control the Cosgrave group.

Taken together, the two proposals would radically re-shape the area, opening up a "new development front" in south-east Dublin. The area is adjacent to Enniskerry on the Dublin-Wicklow border and according to pre-planning submissions to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the Ballyman housing is required to address the current housing crisis in Dublin.

While the group accepts that "numerically the existing zoned lands could meet the requirement for the duration of the plan", it argues that half of the available zoned land in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown is not yet serviced and explains that the council should now consider limited further zoning for residental use.

The submission explains that the proposal "has been fully researched, and the project is effectively ready to roll if given the necessary zoning designation."

The Fassaroe industrial park was, according to members of Wicklow County Council and business interests in Bray, intended to be a commercial boost to the north Wicklow area.

People with commercial interests in the town described their feelings as angry and disappointed.

It is now understood that the property company is to try again. But just how the developers can get around the nature of the board's refusal remains to be seen. In its judgement, An Bord Pleanala cited traffic levels, inadequate roads, the strategic planning guidelines and proper planning.

According to the Strategic planning guidelines the area is in a green belt hinterland and should be preserved from over-development.

While members of Wicklow county council were supportive of the industrial park, news that the group was also engaged in talks with the neighbouring authority for such a large development has come as a shock.

Mr Dick Roche, a Fianna Fail TD for Wicklow, commented that the planned Ballyman development was "truly horrific" and he questioned whether Wicklow County Council knew of the group's plans for Ballyman. "Wicklow County Council has been very generous to the Cosgraves, but it is time to ask how much they were revealing of their plans."

The Labour Party spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore TD, a member of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, said the Ballyman development was an example of how landlords were attempting to turn the housing crisis to their advantage.

Zoning the land, he argued, would not solve the housing crisis on its own. He suggested that if the council had large amounts of unserviced zoned land, it might be better to service that land rather than add new zoned land which would need additional infrastructure.