Greystones residents have plans for harbour

Residents in Greystones, Co Wicklow, have drawn up plans for a "community driven" alternative to a large-scale marina and housing scheme at Greystones harbour.

Following the collapse of negotiations with a financier, Mr Albert Gubay, on building a £50 million marina and residential complex, Wicklow County Council has included a provision in its draft development plan to rezone the harbour area for mixed commercial, residential and marine use. The council hopes a less ambitious marina project could still be built, possibly using the rezoned land to financially underpin the marina development.

However, locals, many of whom are members of the Greystones Protection and Development Association, have commissioned an alternative scheme which they want the council to adopt before it approves its development plan, scheduled for this September.

According to Mr Fiachra Etchingham, spokesman for the residents, the previously mooted plans for the harbour are all too large, and "with associated massive residential development they are inappropriate for the town and, in any event, are unlikely to be undertaken".

The new proposal, which has been costed at £3.5 million, envisages a new harbour wall to the north of the existing north wall, which will itself be refurbished; dredging the entire harbour and the old dock; providing three new slipways; refurbishing the old slipway; providing moorings for 80 boats; improving facilities for local fishermen and landing facilities for visiting yachts.

The plan envisages all-weather pitches and tennis courts on the north shore, developing land for a park, public walkways on all quays and limited housing and commercial development.