The redesignation of golf facilities in south Dublin for future housing development has been branded a “disgrace”, a “travesty” and “an immeasurable loss to the local community”.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is amending its county development plan to increase the amount of land available for housing.
The move follows an edict last summer from Minister for Housing James Browne that local authorities must rezone significant additional land in order to help tackle the housing crisis.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was given a target of providing enough land for 23,112 new homes by 2030, which the council said “represents a shortfall of 2,043 residential units from what can be delivered on serviced land”.
The council has published a proposed variation to its development plan to zone more lands for housing, primarily in areas already identified for growth in Sandyford, and Woodbrook and Old Connaught between Shankill and Bray.
However, it has also identified a number of “long term strategic and sustainable settlement sites” which it said “may deliver housing” in the future. These are currently greenbelt, agriculture or amenity lands in the south of the county close to the Dublin mountains, around Rathmichael, Carrickmines, Kiltiernan and Stepaside.
More than 400 submissions on the variation have been made to the council, and while some relate to the additional rezoning in Sandyford, Woodbrook and Old Connaught, more than two thirds are objections to potential future housing at the Stepaside Driving Range and Jamestown pitch and putt course.
The redesignation of the golf facilities was “shameful” several residents said in written submissions, and showed an “abhorrent disregard” for local amenities.
“It is an outrage that these would even be considered,” one resident said. “How dare you try and destroy the very fabric of the area and what makes the area unique. This is in complete contradiction to the wishes of the local people.
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“Stepaside used to be referred to as ‘the countryside of Dublin’. It is now becoming a concrete jungle thanks to the lack of thoughtful planning by this council.”
Stepaside was “overcrowded”, one couple said. “The infrastructure is creaking and the countryside has been ruined. Enough building in this area. The people in the area need to have amenities and green space. No more houses, apartments, flats.” It was, they said, “absolutely criminal that our amenities are a target for rezoning”.
It was, another resident noted, “ridiculous that the council would even consider getting rid of one of the few local sporting amenities in the area. It’s a disgrace that this is even a proposal.”
The move was “universally opposed” by local people. “With the huge explosion of population in the locality we need amenities more than ever. See sense and leave some green areas in our community. Enough is enough.”
It was, another said, “a travesty and a blunder to take away such beautiful resources by zoning these for development”.
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Local residents were being “swamped and overwhelmed by excessive building” one said. Another complained: “It has always been a picturesque space and now being ruined by developers and greed”.
One man said that unless the proposal was dropped, he would not vote for any of the current councillors. “I’ll instruct my wife and kids not to also.
“How dare you try to turn this area into nothing but housing estates against the will of local people.”
The submissions will be considered by the council’s executive, after which councillors will vote on whether to implement the changes to the development plan.