A decision on whether to rezone part of a wood in south Co Dublin will be made at a special local authority meeting today, despite objections from residents and a Duchas request for an environmental impact assessment of the site.
Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown Co Council will consider recommendations to rezone for housing part of Fitzsimon Wood, Blackglen Road, Sandyford. This proposed rezoning would take place on a strip of ground between the Blackglen Road and the wood, a proposed Natural Heritage Area (pNHA).
Progressive Democrat councillor for Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown, Mr Victor Boyhan, said he would be urging the council not to rezone.
"We have a golden opportunity here to lead the way among local authorities and set up an ecology park," he said, stressing that other areas for housing could be examined instead.
A letter sent to the Council last June from Duchas, the heritage service, said it is "concerned that the proposed rezoning and eventual development of these lands, adjacent to Fitzsimon Wood, would have a significant detrimental impact on the fauna and flora and scientific value of the pNHA".
The letter - released to residents under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997 - continued: "Therefore, we request that the council carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to determine the probable impact on the flora and fauna" of the wood.
An ecological study of the site was carried out in July for the council by ecologists M. Tubridy and Associates, who stated: "The report is not an Environmental Impact Assessment, neither is it a management plan for the wood." But it deals "comprehensively with the ecological issues which have been raised by the proposed rezoning proposal".
The study concluded the area "could be divided into two categories on the basis of ecological interest". The first category, which is not recommended for rezoning, "is of local interest for conservation", the study said.
The second category, which is recommended for rezoning, is of "low conservation interest".
The study said: "Therefore change is possible in this area. Such change should consider the proximity of the area of ecological value and its potential for environmental education."
The local Lambs Brook Residents Association in June wrote to the council objecting to the proposed development. They said the land "should be kept as a passive recreational green space".