Press Release – Diswellstown decision from An Bord Pleanala deeply disappointing – O’Gorman

02/03/10

Green Party Dublin West representative, Roderic O’Gorman has described as deeply disappointing the decision of An Bord Pleanala to grant permission for 438 houses and apartments in Diswellstown, Dublin 15.

“I’m hugely disappointed by the decision of An Bord Pleanala to reject my appeal against Fingal County Council’s grant of planning permission for 438 houses and apartments behind St Patricks NS in Diswellstown”, stated Roderic O’Gorman.

“Over the last year and a half, I have been actively campaigning in the Carpenterstown area against this development. Like many residents, I submitted an objection to the original proposal. When Fingal County Council granted permission, I decided to make an appeal to An Bord Pleanala on behalf of the Dublin West Green Party”.

“My key reason for making this appeal was that I felt that Fingal County Council did not follow the Guidelines on Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas. Specifically, I felt that the Council had not required the developer to specify where in the area the extra demand for school places created by the new development would be met. As we know, the nearby St Patricks NS has been under huge pressure with numbers for the last few years”.

“While both Fingal County Council and An Bord Pleanala placed a condition on the developer to keep free a piece of land in front of St Patricks NS for the schools future expansion, I still feel there was a failure to adequately consider the extra pressure that 438 new houses and apartments are going to put on the existing schools in the area. It seems that neither the Council nor An Bord Pleanala have learned the lesson that when the increase in housing outpaces the available school places, it creates huge problems for parents and major pressures on the existing schools”.

“We can only hope that due to the huge surplus of housing in the Dublin 15 area, the apartments and houses in Diswellstown will not be built in the lifetime of the planning permission”, concluded Roderic O’Gorman.

Ends

Further Information

Roderic O’Gorman: 087 417 9777