Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council remained locked in debate last night over the future of its Draft County Development Plan 2004-2010.
In a marathon council meeting which began at 4 p.m. yesterday, councillors listed 94 motions for debate, almost half of them dealing with contentious housing issues.
By 9 p.m., however, the council had yet to reach the most contentious zoning motions on its agenda, including those dealing with Dún Laoghaire Golf Club and Airfield Park, Dundrum.
The local authority had been given a deadline of midnight last night to agree to a development plan or have one imposed on its behalf under the council's executive powers.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, had directed the council to zone for residential use a further 40 hectares of land so that it complied with its housing strategy, which was adopted last year.
There were indications last night that councillors would, by a narrow margin, approve the rezoning of the 23-hectare Dún Laoghaire Golf Club despite strong opposition from local residents' associations.
The council had previously voted narrowly against rezoning the golf course for the development of 1,700 homes. But the absence of a number of councillors in the chamber last night looked likely to swing the balance in favour of the rezoning.
In June 2002 the club's members agreed overwhelmingly to sell its grounds to developers Cogsrave Brothers in return for a new 27-hole golf course and a new clubhouse with ancillary facilities at Ballyman Road, between Enniskerry and Bray, as well as €20.3 million in cash.
The deal was contingent on the rezoning going through.
Added pressure was put on councillors last week by the council's legal services department, which advised that the rezoning of lands other than those recommended by the county manager for the development plan would be at "serious risk" of being overturned in the courts.
Dún Laoghaire Golf Club was one of seven parcels of land which the county manager had recommended for rezoning.
The other six sites were: Irish Glass Bottle Company lands at Goatstown (three hectares), Stepaside Golf Club (22 hectares), council lands neighbouring the golf club in Stepaside (three hectares), Allies River Road, Shankill (four hectares), land around the Victorian Clontra House in Shankill (five hectares), and council lands at Ballinclea Heights (1.24 hectares).
Under a draft plan adopted last November, two hectares of land at Airfield were zoned residential. However, a majority of councillors intended last night to change this zoning to open space.
The move follows a major public campaign of opposition to the sale of land to developers by Airfield Trust, which administers the estate. More than 700 submissions, or almost 60 per cent of all submissions on the development plan, were sent to the council opposing the Airfield rezoning.
