Council studies Clongowes proposal to rezone farm

Kildare County Council is to discuss the proposed rezoning of Clongowes Wood College farm for a major leisure and residential…

Kildare County Council is to discuss the proposed rezoning of Clongowes Wood College farm for a major leisure and residential development at a meeting on Monday.

The rezoning proposals include a hotel, golf course and tourist accommodation complex.

The proposals from the Jesuit province, which owns the school and farm, also include the rezoning of a small part of the site for residential development, along with a craft courtyard for the land, which is just two miles from Clane.

If successful, the proposed development would be the latest in a series of mixed golfing resort and tourist developments in Kildare, including the K Club and Carton House.

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However the Jesuit community itself would not oversee the development and instead sell the land on to a developer.

Under the submission made as part of the council's review of its development plan, the Jesuits have proposed that the 249-acre farm would be rezoned. A buffer would remain between the proposed development and the 170 acre-plus site containing the college buildings, grounds, nine-hole golf course and playing fields.

The proposed site also includes the remains of the original Pale, along with a mausoleum built for the Browne family, who used to own the estate.

In its submission for rezoning, Keith Simpson and Associates, which drew up the plans on behalf of the Jesuits, says similar integrated leisure developments have been approved in Kildare, Meath and north Dublin.

It outlines general proposals for a hotel and conference centre, an 18-hole golf course, tourism accommodation and apartments, tennis courts and a craft courtyard and a small residential development on the edge of the site beside the Clane/Kilcock road.

According to Mr Gary O'Sullivan, a spokesman for the Jesuit Community, the farm itself is owned by a trust controlled by the Jesuit community in Ireland, as opposed to the school itself.

The community had planned to sell the farm as a going concern in 2001 but decided to delay this over fears any future owner could apply for rezoning.

The current rezoning has been made on the basis that it would minimise the impact on the college grounds.

He said that any funds from the sale of the farmland would be used to finance Jesuit activities including work with homeless and other socially marginalised.

If the land is rezoned, the Jesuits could expect to realise at least of 25 million for the site. The farm is currently worth nearly 10 million. Mr O'Sullivan said the order intended to sell the farm in any case.

Proceeds of the sale could also be used to finance aspects of the various educational facilities which the order owns in Ireland, including three of the top fee-paying schools for boys in the State, Belvedere and Gonzaga in Dublin city and Clongowes Wood itself.

Clongowes Wood college, which was founded in the former estate of the Browne family in 1814, is one of the most exclusive schools in the country, with fees of more than €10,000 per anum.