DLRCoCo Development Plan 2004 - 2010

Recent progress

The Draft Development Plan went on public display towards the end of April 2003. Amendments were published in December 2003. A full set of links to documents published by DLRCoCo about the Draft Development Plan is to be found on their web site.

The motion passed by Councillors in April 2003 (See below) to rezone the former reservoir site from A to F (open space) is properly reflected on Map No. 7. However, presumably inadvertently, the text reference on Table 6.1 (p. 77 of Plan) which shows the site as being proposed for social housing was not changed. This resulted in an inconsistency between what was said and what was shown. This matter has been rectified in the amendments published in December 2003. Those amendments include "Table 6.1 (page 77) is amended by the . . . deletion of Ballinclea Heights".

The above information is based on the CD ROM version of the Draft Development Plan. In the printed version the relevant table number is 5.1 (Page 53).

Council review of Manager's Draft Development Plan, April 2003:

The Council completed its review of the Manager's Draft Development Plan at a sitting lasting from 2:30 pm to midnight on Monday, 7 April 2003. The Manager believed there was a significant deficit in land zoned for residential development in the draft.

During the 7 April sitting the Council voted to amend the Manager's Draft Development Plan to rezone the former reservoir to open space. Councillors voted for this amendment by thirteen votes for to eight against with one abstention.

Various councillors proposed and seconded motions for open space zoning of the former reservoir. The proposers and seconders, with proposer's name first, were as follows:

• Councillors Marren, Costello, Dockrell, and Keogh.
• Councillors Lowe and Butler
• Councillors O'Malley and Boyhan

The votes to zone Ballinclea Heights reservoir as open space were as follows:

This result was very encouraging, coming after years of effort by the BHRA Committee. It was not the end of the planning process. The Draft still had to go on public display during the Summer before returning to Council in the Autumn. As indicated above, the correction of the text reference on Table 6.1 (p. 77 of Plan) [Table 5.1 (p. 53) in the printed version] was subsequently made in the Amendments on display during December 2003 and January 2004.

Response from residents and friends, Summer 2003:

BHRA members and friends of Ballinclea Heights made 396 submissions to DLRCoCo during Summer 2003:
 

199	Ballinclea Heights		18	Cluny & Killiney Road
25	Mount Auburn & Wyvern		22	Oakdene
35	Springhill		22	Rock Lodge
8	Wanford & Roxboro Close		67	Other localities
	Total submissions:		396

This was a remarkable response from local communities given that half of the submissions came from neighbouring areas. These submissions represented over 15% of the 2,624 submissions to DLRCoCo.

These submissions:

1. Supported the zoning change to open space;
2. Pointed out the incompatibility between the text and the map;
3. Requested that the draft plan be changed to be consistent with the vote of the Councillors i.e., that the reference to Ballinclea Heights in Table 6.1 on page 77 be deleted (Table 5.1, page 53 in printed version).

The County Manager's report on the Draft Development Plan was published in September 2003.

Council review of Manager's Report, October 2003:

This process began on 14th October 2003. On 5th November 2003 Council voted by 15 votes to 8 to confirm the Open Space zoning for Ballinclea Heights. The votes were as follows:

As a consequence of this vote motions from Councillors Butler, Lowe and Marren supporting the Open Space zoning did not need to be voted on. It was also agreed that a second motion from Councillor Marren to remove the former reservoir from the housing list did not need to be voted on due to the acceptance by the Manager of the open space status.

Council review of Manager's Report, March 2004:

The final Council meeting to adopt the Development Plan 2004/2010 was held over twelve hours on 23rd / 24th March 2004 and finished at 4:00 am.

The vote on Ballinclea Heights was taken at 1:30 am and resulted in the defeat of the Manager's rezoning proposal by seventeen votes for to two against with five abstentions. Four members were absent. The votes were as follows:

In favour 17 votes	Against 2 votes	Abstention 5 votes	Absent 4 members
Boyhan, V (PD) Butler, L (FF) Conway, B (FF) Corrigan, M (FF) Costello, E (FG) Dockrell, W (FG) Elliott, M (FG) Fox, T (FF) Hand, P (FG) Horkan, G (FF) Ireland, K (GP) Joyce, T (FG) Kelly, T (FF) Lowe, B (FF) Marren, D (FG) Matthews, T (FF) Saul, B (PD)	Culhane, A (LAB) O’Callaghan, D (LAB)	Bhreathnach, N (LAB) Dillon Byrne, J (LAB) Murphy, T (FF) O'Malley, C (LAB) Smyth, C (LAB)	Coffey, B (FF) Cosgrave, Liam (FG) Cosgrave, Louise (FG) Keogh, H (FG)

At the start of the meeting there was a shortfall of 40 ha which Councillors had been directed to resolve by Martin Cullen TD the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. This figure was increased by 3 ha with the rezoning of Airfield and then reduced to 38 ha by deducting an equivalent of 5 ha in lieu of residential zoning for the top storey of commercial buildings in Sandyford Industrial Park. The rezoning of Dun Laoghaire Golf Course by a vote of 12:11 reduced the deficit to 15 ha. Another 8 ha was rezoned residential at Glenamuck leaving the final deficit at 7 ha which the Manager said he would resolve with his planning colleagues.

Subsequently the 7 ha deficit was eliminated by increasing the residential density at Cherrywood.

Ballinclea Heights had been removed from the housing list following the published amendments which were on display to 20th January 2004.

The Development Plan 2004/2010 is due to take effect from 20th April 2004. The area of the former reservoir will be zoned Open Space (F zoning).

BHRA thanks most sincerely everybody who helped achieve this happy result - Councillors, friends, and residents of Ballinclea Heights.

BHRA will continue to monitor and report on developments.

Relevant links

The following list of relevant links will be updated from time to time as the planning process proceeds. Future additions are likely to include new planning documents, position statements published by BHRA and others, and responses to position papers. The links currently included are:

• Chronology - the story from 1996 to April 2003
   
• Planning steps - the road ahead . . . .
   
• DLRCoCo. The 'Departments' menu includes a link to the Economic Development & Planning Department. The Department is responsible for the preparation of the County Development Plan.
   
• Report to Council, 9th September 2002. This report is part of the pre-draft consultation process it includes:
   
1. A list of persons or bodies who made submissions, and persons or bodies consulted by the Council
2. A summary of the issues raised in the submissions and consultations
3. The opinion on the issues raised, taking account of the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, statutory obligations and Government policy
4. Recommendations on the policies to be included in the Draft Development Plan
    
• Development & Planning Section at the Department of the Environment. Their page includes information about the legal and administrative context in which the plan is being developed.