Concerns over Kilgannon Hill development
OFFICIALS from Wicklow County Council attended last Tuesday’s meeting of Bray Municipal District to put before members plans for a development at Kilgarron Hill in Enniskerry.
Members heard at the meeting that An Bord Pleanála had informed developers that their original plans for under 200 units were too low-density. Members were also told that the board does not consider it a material contravention of the Local Development Plan to have density higher than allowed in the plan.
Senior engineer in planning and planner Lucy Roche were there to present the plans. They explained that as a strategic housing development, the decision on the 219 residential units will be for An Bord Pleanála. Their remarks from the meeting will be noted and a summary will be sent to the board along with the chief executive’s report.
Mr Keogh said that members can also make submissions directly to the board. He noted that a similar application for the same site has previously been refused, on the grounds that there were environmental concerns surrounding Knocksink Woods.
Cllr Erika Doyle said that the residents got their own hydro-geological report and the results of their report seems to differ to that submitted by the developer. ‘ That report doesn’t in their view address the various impacts,’ said Cllr Doyle, who requested a full environmental impact assessment, considering the cumulative effects of previous developments and this proposed one.
Cllr Melanie Corrigan said that the quality of the river has to be maintained.
‘ The roads will not be able to cope with that amount of traffic coming into or leaving the village,’ she said. ‘ The village is already congested.’
She said that the density of the development is too high. ‘We do need housing, and affordable housing for young families in the area, but the density is too high,’ she said. ‘ The third storey is not in keeping at all with the area.’
She mentioned problems county-wide for school places, adding that schools in the area are at capacity with no feeder secondary school. ‘In one school, there were 30 applicants for 12 places,’ said Cllr Corrigan. ‘What provision is there for the future She also said that she has safety concerns. ‘ There is no path on that section of road, which already causes problems.’
Cllr Rory O’Connor said that only one bus goes up there every hour and young people living there would be depending on buses in the future. He also agreed with all Cllr Corrigan said.
Cllr Joe Behan said that the strategic housing development process is ‘grossly undemocratic’.
‘Not only are we second class citizens, so are the public as they only get one bit of the cherry. Normally with a planning application they can make a decision, and if they don’t like the decision can appeal to An Bord Pleanála. The public are being excluded. There is a lack of respect here for the public’s views and the views of their representatives. It’s not the officials’ fault, it’s national legislation,’ said Cllr Behan, who said that there are plans in the programme for government to look at getting rid of it in a year or two.
Looking at the scheme itself, he said that a lot of local people feel the roads infrastructure is already under pressure in Enniskerry. ‘ There has been mention of improving the roads if it goes through, but at the moment people don’t see the infrastructure.
‘I’m not sure what the water supply situation is in the village,’ he said. ‘ There’s also a danger that the rural landscape of the area will be changed forever.’
He asked if there will be apartments backing on to the existing social housing estate, Parknasillogue, adjacent to the site, and learned that there would be duplexes there - with apartments on the ground floor and duplexes on the second and third floors.
He also asked if there were plans for pedestrian access through Parknasillogue, and said that is something the residents should not have to accept. ‘ They are in a cul de sac at the moment and that should remain.’
Mr Keogh said that was in the design showing where it was possible, as good design practice, and it could be facilitated if the need were to arise, but wasn’t in the developer’s plan or remit.
Cllr Behan said that while it appears that the developers get around the table with planners from Wicklow County Council and An Bórd Pleanála in the pre-planning process, local representatives are excluded from the process. ‘ That is wrong,’ said Cllr Behan. ‘Is it fair to say you have already given the thumbs up to this development in your meetings? Have you more or less said fire away?’ Mr Keogh said that is not the case
‘All we have taken part in is pre-planning. What we do there is advise applicants of the policies, our views about the design of units and so on.’
He said that in the last chief executive’s report for this site they expressed serious concern regarding the density and need to improve infrastructure in the area. He said that the initial plans were for fewer than 200 units, with the board telling the applicant that density was too low. The board, Mr Keogh said, have been giving importance to national guidelines on the efficient use of zoned land and pushing density higher and higher.
Cllr Dermot O’Brien said that if the members are excluded then so are their constituents. ‘If we can’t instruct the chief executive then what weight does his view have compared to ours?’
Mr Keogh said that the bord must consider the report as a whole, which does include the views of the members.
‘It looks like this plan was dropped into Enniskerry. It isn’t joined-up thinking, there’s no vision for how this integrates into Enniskerry.’
He said that if there is any risk to Knocksink Woods, then the plans have to be off the table. ‘We don’t have the luxury to take it for granted’ said Cllr O’Brien.
Cllr Grace McManus said that it’s frustrating to be ‘ hamstrung by national policy’. She said also that there is no affordability plan nationally, and what people can afford won’t be considered by the developer. She added that it is frustrating for the members and constituents not to have their voices heard.
Cllr Aoife Flynn-Kennedy said that housing is what she works at. ‘I see a development and it excites me - I listen for the Part 5 element,’ she said. ‘ This particular situation in Enniskerry is unique,’ she said. ‘I was there on Sunday and the roads were impassable at points for two cars. We have to look at development in the wider context of the whole of Enniskerry. In urban areas I would be more focussed on one piece of land.’ She said that the development is too big in her view, would impact on the environment, and there isn’t the infrastructure in place to accommodate it. ‘I know that means the potential loss of 21 social housing units, but you can’t get up and down the street in Enniskerry sometimes as it is.’
Members asked what the developers intend for the rest of the lands, and the officials said that while they don’t know, the zoning is for community, education and employment.
Fergal Keogh, in response to queries about a school for the area, sad that the council had given advice that a school should be provided in the area. The developers had written to the Department of Education, who had said they had no plans to provide a school in Enniskerry. The council has informed the Department that in their view a school should be provided in the village. ‘ The developer has indicated a willingness but the provision of a school is a matter for the Department of Education,’ said Mr Keogh.
‘I think clearly the main reason An Bórd Pleanála previously rejected this was because of the potential impact on Knocksink Wood,’ said Cathaoirleach, Cllr Anne Ferris. ‘ That is still an issue.’ She said all members agree the density is too high. ‘If proposals came in for about 80 homes, I would have been happy,’ said Cllr Ferris. ‘Enniskerry is a village, not a town,’ she said. ‘While I wish more houses could be built in general, so that people of my daughter’s generation could buy, I can’t support that development.’
She urged the members to make a submission to ABP by the deadline of June 29, and urged members of the public to do the same.
Cllr Joe Behan asked about the material contravention of the Local Development Plan. Fergal Keogh said that the board is precluded from granting a material contravention of a local development plan. ‘In this instance, and we have seen a pattern of this with the board’s decisions, while we would consider the density a contravention of our local development plan, it’s not a material contravention of the zoning objectives nationally.’
Mr Keogh said that legal opinion had accompanied the submission. ‘If it was zoned as residential and the application is for retail, that’s what they consider a material contravention, but in terms of policy, they don’t view density as a material contravention.’
‘ That’s another undermining of the rights of councillors,’ said Cllr Behan. ‘It’s our development plan and we are meant to be the only ones who can change it. I want to see the legal advice. Did the council take legal advice? We are completely being made fools of. A development plan can be materially contravened by An Bórd Pleanála? That can’t be legal.’