Green light for 500 homes beside public park in spite of traffic and geese concerns
MORE than 500 homes are set to be built beside St Anne’s Park in Dublin, despite widespread local opposition.
Developer Pat Crean’s Marlet Property Group has received the green light from An Bord Pleanála for the 100 houses and more than 400 apartments on lands east of St Paul’s College on Sybil Hill Road in Raheny.
There were 1,102 submissions made, most opposed to the plan, centring on concerns about the impact on the park, traffic and Brent geese which use the pitches as a feeding ground.
The board inspector said they were of the view that there was capacity on other sites to “absorb the loss” of the feeding grounds.
While the inspector noted the recommendation of Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan that permission for the scheme should be refused, it was not accepted.
Locals outraged over the decision may take the matter to the High Court.
Labour senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay) said hundreds of local residents, sports clubs and community groups are expected at a public meeting he is organising on the issue next Thursday to discuss the controversial decision by An Bord Pleanála.
Mr Ó Ríordáin said the level of local opposition to the development is such that they may decide to seek a judicial review of the decision.
He described the development of 536 housing units “as a perversion of what the lands were intended for”.
“It will have a devastating effect on the environmental integrity of St Anne’s Park – a park which is the green lung of the Northside. The proposal was strenuously objected to by local community groups and sports clubs and every single one of the 15 local councillors representing all shades of political colour,” he added.
Local resident Georgina Moore, who set up the “I Love St Anne’s” website and Facebook site, said opponents of the development were shocked by the decision.
“They can’t understand it. People are genuinely upset,” she said.
The approval is the second secured by Marlet in recent weeks under the Government’s temporary ‘fast-track’ planning system. On March 22, the company got the go-ahead for 419 apartments and one house on the site of CIÉ’s former lands on Carnlough Road in Cabra.
Marlet chief executive Mr Crean said approval for the Raheny site reflected the benefit of the Strategic Housing Initiative, which became law last year.
However, Mr Ó Ríordáin expressed his disappointment at An Bord Pleanála’s decision, and he described it as a “surprising one” in view of the objections.