A planning application for 800 new homes on part of the former Dún Laoghaire golf club can be decided in advance of a local area plan, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has ruled.
The council said it was legally obliged to consider the planning application which was lodged in February by Cosgrave Brothers.
The development company acquired the 78-acre site in a deal which saw the club relocate to Ballyman, on the Dublin and Wicklow border. The club was also paid about €20 million by the company.
However, the move has infuriated some locals, who believe the course should have been retained as a green belt for the town.
Last June councillors instructed Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council management to prepare a local area plan for the golf club lands.
However, this week the council said there could be no question of deferring the planning application until the local area plan was in place as the company was entitled by law to have its application considered within a statutory time limit.
Cosgrave Brothers has announced plans to build 1,700 new homes and a new neighbourhood centre on the site, and the application for over 800 new homes is the first phase.
However, in a move which has further angered those opposed to the development, the council said it would use the standards of an adjacent local area plan in considering development of the golf club.
In a statement, the council said it would use the Urban Structure Plan as a framework to decide the application. The Urban Structure Plan is defined as covering an area from the coastline between the East and West Piers to the lanes that run parallel with George's Street. It extends the length of George's Street from Park Road to Clarence Street, taking in the retail and commercial core of Dún Laoghaire Town Centre. The golf club lands do not fall within this area.
Gene Feighery, of Combined Residents to Save Open Spaces, said the council was statutorily bound to take the local area plan into account before considering the application. "The Urban Structure Plan is solely for the town centre, and has nothing to do with the surrounding areas."