Bord Pleanála has approved the creation of the State's first Strategic Development Zone around the village of Adamstown, near Lucan in west Dublin. Tim O'Brien, Regional Development Correspondent, reports.
The zone will guarantee the phased delivery of 10,000 new homes as well as new town and village centres, schools, parks, roads, quality bus corridors and a railway station on the Dublin to Kildare line. The 550-acre site is about 10 miles from Dublin city centre.
Confirmation of the zone by Bord Pleanála means that development proposals which meet the requirement of the zone and are granted planning permission by South Dublin County Council, cannot be appealed to Bord Pleanála either by objectors or property developers.
The creation of Strategic Development Zones is intended to speed up the delivery of housing and tackle infrastructural backlogs in relation to services such as roads, schools and playing fields.
In approving the scheme as proposed by South Dublin County Council, Bord Pleanála made few major changes, the most significant being the phasing of the housing on infrastructural elements.
There are to be 13 phases of house-building, each phase dependent on a level of infrastructure such as roads, railway, services or schools being in place before housing can proceed.
Significantly, the board decided that the development should not proceed beyond the first 1,000 houses until the upgrading to dual-carriageway of the outer ring road between the development and the N4 road is complete. The council said yesterday it expected this road to be ready by 2005.
A new railway station must also be provided as part of phase one. Another condition is that the rail link to Dublin must have the capacity to carry 3,000 passengers per peak hour before the developers may build beyond 4,000 homes.
There are to be four schools provided as part of the scheme, the first of which is to be in place before the number of houses can rise above 1,800. There should be a second school at 3,400 houses, a third at 5,000 houses and a fourth at 6,600 houses.
Not less than 14 per cent of Adamstown must comprise parks, playgrounds, playing pitches, tennis courts and landscaping.
A property consortium operating through the development company Chartridge Ltd is expected to lodge a planning application with South Dublin County Council in the coming months.
The board's decision yesterday came within 18 weeks, which is remarkable considering the size of the development.
Opponents have criticised the absence of an overall Environmental Impact Statement being required in advance by the board, as well as the likely traffic volumes and impact on the existing community.
There has also been criticism of the involvement of former Fianna Fáil TD Mr Liam Lawlor. Mr Lawlor has a share in the underground pipework which would serve Adamstown, and he could net €2.5 million if the housing scheme goes ahead.