CLLRS SLAM RATHMULLEN HOMES PLAN
EAST MEATH COUNCILLORS EXPRESS GRAVE CONCERNS ABOUT NEW 661 HOME DEVELOPMENT IN DROGHEDA
EAST Meath councillors have expressed their amazement that plans for 661 new homes on a site at the Rathmullen Road is even being considered by An Bord Pleanala.
They got a chance to voice their views on the ‘new village’ for the area during a presentation by planners, stating that the project will not serve the area well.
‘It is a colossal development,’ Cllr Annie Hoey said. ‘It’s going to be mental. On good days, the traffic is bad.’
Cllr Paddy Meade said that an oral hearing was needed on it as there were so many issues to be resolved in relation to the homes themselves and roads.
‘It beggars belief that this could be considered. It’s crazy,’ Cllr Stephen McKee added, before Cllr Sharon Tolan said people would be surrounded ‘ by a Berlin Wall in muck’ due to the development of amenities in a raised area.
EAST MEATH councillors have united in disbelief that a proposal for a 661 home estate on the Rathmullen Road is even being considered due to what they say are a series of issues surrounding it.
The councillors received a presentation on the plan from Meath CC planners who said that the proposal is under the Strategic Housing Development scheme and has gone straight to An Bord Pleanala for a decision.
However, they were allowed to voice their opinion, with many scathing of the suggestion that the area could take such a development.
It is planned on a site at the bottom of the Rathmullen Road, at the turn to Sheephouse and Oldbridge.
An announcement is expected on January 31 2020 on it.
Part of the application is for 509 home and 152 apartments, with 13 of them one bed and 139, two-bed. Some will be five storeys high and it will be developed in five phases over 10 years.
For Cllr Annie Hoey, the traffic is a major concern. She said that examinations of the flow from Slane and Tullyallen and Sheephouse was not made, as well as on Marley’s Lane, St Oliver’s school traffic and the right turn onto Marley’s Lane.
‘It is a colossal development,’ she said. ‘It’s going to be mental. On good days it’s bad.’
She also stated that she was told to contact the Orange Order about the fact that the site is so close to the Battle of the Boyne and has ‘ huge historical significance’.
‘ This is going to change the face of this area.’ Cllr Wayne Harding said there were over 1,300 students in St Oliver’s and 600 houses beside it and he wondered how another 661 homes could be accommodated.
‘ The junction at the Bridge of Peace and the Rathmullen Road is one of the most dangerous I see daily. It is a horrible, horrible junction,’ he stated. He also said it had implications for the Obelisk Bridge to the Glen.
‘ There are so many pinch points on the roads in that area,’ he added.
Cllr Paddy Meade said that an oral hearing was needed on itas there were so many issues, everything from solar panels, sustainability and roads to the historical significance of the Battle of the Boyne.
‘It’s the size of another village and we’ll have an extra 1,400 vehicles on these roads. There’s no links into the town and schools are at capacity. This development will mean people will have to rely on their own vehicles,’ Cllr Sharon Tolan explained.
Cllr Stephen McKee said ‘it beggars belief that this could be considered. It’s crazy. There’s no playing pitches and no playground and no recreational amenities. If you buy in Phase 1, you could be living in a building site until Phase 5 is done.’
He said there were noise concerns with the M1 too.
Council officials said that buffer measures were planned to negate against noise and a raised area would provide a green area.
Cllr Sharon Tolan suggested people would then be surrounded ‘ by a Berlin Wall in muck’.
Cllr Paddy Meade said the site had changed hands ‘many times’ with Cllr Sharon Keogan then asking who the developers were and ‘can they deliver on these homes,’ or would the permission be granted and the site sold off again. ‘I would oppose this because it’s half the size of Duleek.’