Sailing club to appeal Greystones marina

Greystones Sailing Club in Co Wicklow is to object to revised plans for a major refurbishment of Greystones Harbour and the creation of a 230-berth marina.

The sailing club said its decision to object to revised plans for the controversial development, which comes just days before the January 29th deadline, stemmed from frustration in dealing with Wicklow County Council, one of the backers of the project.

Under the terms of the redevelopment, the council - along with its private sector partners - is proposing to develop housing on the north beach which, in turn, would fund a new harbour with facilities for existing users, including the sailing club.

However, club spokesman commodore Keith Simpson, said revised designs for the club's new premises had failed to identify where the club could place and store a rescue boat.

The club has about 250 members: about 100 of them are regular boat owners and users. According to Simpson, the prospect of not having anywhere to store a rescue boat makes their activity very difficult.

Simpson also said the council was proposing to place a compulsory purchase order on their premises, in return for a lease on a new club premises elsewhere. The club had been advised that this may give rise to a tax liability but Simpson said the council had refused to "offer comfort" to the club on the issue.

"We are not looking for money, but we have the members interests to protect and we need assurances, but have found the council very unwilling to address our concerns," said Simpson.

However, a spokesman for Wicklow County Council said he was awaiting a response from the sailing club to proposals put forward at a recent meeting. Sean Quirke said when An Bord Pleanála had asked for revised plans, he had called all existing harbour users to a meeting "to get feedback, but the sailing club failed to attend". He understood the club had taken a decision to reserve its position and neither support nor object to the proposal, he said.

At a subsequent meeting, Sean Quirke said the club had identified issues relating to Vat and the club's drinks licence "which were not planning issues".

Quirke said he understood that the club's rescue boat was currently stored out of doors and this was an issue which had never been raised in previous discussions. "We were told they were going to get some advice and that they would come back to us," Quirke concluded.

Wicklow County Council has also told An Bord Pleanála that leaving the harbour site undeveloped is realistically not an option. In its submission, the council said the proposed harbour and marina would be a world class facility for the town and the east coast generally.

But the council also stressed how the proposed development was a perfect fit in terms of the search for such projects which it had identified in the Wicklow County development plan.

Citing regional planning guidelines, the council also pointed out the close proximity of the Dart services - the line runs alongside the site - and the availability of bus services, as well as the proximity of the N11 with its new dual-carriageway access route.