‘Emotions are high’: Kildare locals concerned over development of lands at Castletown House

Communities in north Co Kildare have expressed deep concern about future development at Castletown House and Parklands following disagreements between landowners and the Office of Public Works (OPW) over access to the historic estate in recent days.

Attempts to broker a licensing agreement – to ensure continued public access to the estate via an entrance just off the M4 motorway – broke down when the OPW and Killross Properties were unable to agree on “reasonable and feasible terms”, according to the OPW.

Killross Properties completed the purchase of 235 acres of land immediately adjacent to Castletown House and its demesne earlier this year, and thus hold ownership of the lands leading to the estate from the M4 gate.

The State submitted bids for the parcel of land, but was ultimately unsuccessful in its attempts to purchase. The OPW said on Monday that it “remains fully committed to reuniting the historic demesne by acquiring lands that formed part of the original estate”.

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Minister for State Patrick O’Donovan, who is responsible for the OPW, on Tuesday called on the new owners of the land adjoining Castletown House to engage in discussions with the State agency about providing access to a car park used by people with restricted mobility.

Access to the estate from the M4 gate will be closed from Friday. Access to a car park, previously used by visitors to the estate, will also be blocked under the new arrangement. Public access to the estate will now be reverted through Celbridge Avenue, via Celbridge.

Lar McKenna, a director of Killross Properties, said in a statement that discussions “regarding a licence for a car park and access” ended without an agreement. The property firm did not respond to queries about what the newly purchased land might be used for.

Earlier this year, following the purchase, Mr McKenna said the acquisition of the lands provided “an exceptional opportunity to create substantial employment and leisure amenities in north Kildare”. The 235-acre parcel is predominantly zoned Objective F – Open Space and Amenity under the Celbridge Local Area Plan 2017-2023.

Former Social Democrats leader Catherine Murphy, TD for Kildare North, said that while there would be little appetite – politically or otherwise – to rezone the 235-acre parcel, public ownership of the land was the “ultimate intention” of the OPW, given the historic and ecological importance of the site.

She said “emotions [were] running very high” in the locality following recent developments.

“There’s a huge concern over what’s going to happen with the demesne,” Ross Kelly, a member of the Save Castletown group, said on Monday, standing at the Celbridge Avenue pedestrian entrance to the estate.

“The demesne is 500 years old, it’s a gem of biodiversity, we have an ancient forest, we’ve got EU-recognised meadows, we’ve got lots of rare flora and fauna here... there’s a huge concern around biodiversity and what would happen to the demesne with new development plans.”

“We feel the long-term strategy is a compulsory purchase order of the land,” he added.

Several local people held protests at both gates to the estate on Monday. Ciarán Barry (73), from Celbridge, said that the estate was a “fabulous facility”.

“It’s not just Celbridge… There’s people who come to it from Maynooth, from Leixlip, from Lucan,” he said, standing under an umbrella, close to the pedestrian entrance.

Mr Barry said that Castletown House is one of the few public green spaces in the locality. He pointed out that Celbridge and its surrounds has experienced a boom in housing development in recent times – but little in the way of new public amenities to go along with such developments.

“God knows people are crying out for housing, they need it, but they should put in the infrastructure first, then put in the housing,” he said.

“It’s one of the few amenities that we have in Celbridge, so people are very, very upset about this,” Sinn Féin TD Réada Cronin said.

To ensure continued access to the site, the OPW has moved to construct a temporary car park at a different location within the Castletown Estate. “We wish to emphasise our commitment to the local community, while ensuring the preservation of public access to this historic site,” it said.

Locals have also raised concerns about the new car park, the impact on biodiversity and traffic levels in the town.

“Our main concern is that this is all being done very quickly,” Mr Kelly said. “It’s all happening within the space of a week. They’re risking causing permanent disruption, permanent damage to the character of the demesne.”

The OPW said that the site of the proposed temporary car park was “outside the zone of the historic protected views from the house”.

“We would like to assure the public that, as an award winning site for biodiversity, this temporary car park will not impact on biodiversity protection.”

Mr O’Donovan told RTÉ's News at One that the OPW had “a very good working relationship with the previous landowner” and hoped to have a good working relationship with the current one.

“However, we are now facing this ultimatum whereby access is going to be restricted from 10pm on Friday evening, and that puts a huge dilemma for us in terms of being able to keep this national asset.”