Proposed Wicklow development targets county council's objectives

One of the biggest residential planning applications to come before Wicklow County Council has been lodged for a 108-acre site adjacent to the Burnaby estate in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

The application for 1,466 dwellings includes two creches, a community centre and a new dual carriageway which, according to the planning application, would also serve industrial zoned lands adjacent to the site.

The site lies between Greystones Rugby Club and the Woodlands housing estate. The application was made in the name of Zapi Ltd, whose directors include members of the Mulryan family, as well as their development company, Ballymore Homes Ltd.

The proposed development includes a number of factors which are objectives of Wicklow County Council, notably a community centre for which there is currently a local fund-raising effort, and a Greystones southern relief road.

Wicklow County Council has committed itself to providing a relief road from Greystones bypassing Delgany village, under the terms of planning permission granted for a large residential development between Greystones and Delgany.

The new road would provide access from the site to the R761, Greystones to Kilcoole road as well as to Millbrook in Killincarrig. The land, some of which is adjacent to Charlesland Golf Club, was zoned in the 1999 Wicklow County Development Plan for residential use. It lies within the area defined by the Strategic Planning Guidelines as the Greater Dublin Metropolitan Area and is close to the recently opened Greystones DART station.

According to a site notice, the planning application covers 687 two-storey homes including 476 two-bedroom houses, 211 three-bedroom houses and 62 four-bedroom houses. Also envisaged are 361 apartments in a range of three- to six-storey buildings.

Ballymore homes built the Woodlands housing estate in the early 1990s on the site of the Woodlands Hotel.

A Fine Gael member of Wicklow County Council, Mr Derek Mitchell, said he was opposed to the development as it exceeded the council's proposed housing density for the area. It was also out of line on the provision of green space, he said.