WICKLOW County Council has defended its decision to grant planning permission for a 294 house development adjacent to Delgany village. The county's senior planning executive, Mr Des O'Brien, told a Bord Pleanala hearing yesterday the council "did not feel that the site was part of Delgany or would impact on the village".
To cries of "shame, shame" from the public gallery, Mr O'Brien said the council did not view Delgany as a separate entity, but rather as part of a conurbation comprising Delgany, Greystones, Blacklion and Killincarrig. In this respect the council viewed the Killincarrig to Delgany road as an urban road.
However, earlier in the hearing, consultants Paul Griffin & Company, retained by the Delgany Area Residents' Action Group (DARAG), said Delgany was considered to include approximately 320 dwellings in a rural location of scientific interest and scenic beauty.
It was similar in character to the villages of Howth, Malahide, Kinsale and Dalkey, and required an action plan for its development and preservation, rather than "prairie planning, ignorant of local tradition, patched together into one vast conurbation of Delgany and Greystones".
Commenting on the scientific interest of the site, an ecologist, Ms Jenny Neff, said she was surprised that a wet woodland and a valley on the site were not listed as Natural Heritage Areas. She felt that this may be because the office of the National Parks and Wildlife Service was simply unaware of the site.
The ecologist and film maker, Mr Eamon de Buitleir, said the proposed housing development would permanently change the peaceful character of Delgany village.
An aquatic ecologist, Mr Jack O'Sullivan, said proposals to culvert a stream running through the site, a tributary of the Three Trout stream, would in his opinion cause flooding to private property further downstream, while the development would destroy the quality of water in the stream. Mr O'Sullivan joined Ms Neff and Mr de Buitleir in calling for a delay in any final decision pending an assessment of the side by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Mr John Stapleton, of the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board, said the board's position was that culverting the stream would be detrimental to trout stocks in the Three Trout stream, which it fed.
Mr O'Brien said a report commissioned from J.B. Barry & Partners on surface water treatment was delivered last Friday, and as such the planners had not had time to sufficiently study its implications. When the planning inspector inquired if this was the same firm which was acting as consultants to the developer, Mr O'Brien confirmed this was the case.
A number of local residents also made submissions. Mr Conor O'Keeffe, of Westgate, Delgany, said the road serving the development was already extremely dangerous. He had difficulty entering and leaving his house and feared for the safety of his three children.
The hearing continues today.
