Ashford rezoning proposal divides council

A proposal to rezone land in Ashford for a large-scale film studio has divided Wicklow County Council amid claims that it may lead to the relocation of Ardmore Studios from Bray to Ashford.

The claim from council chairman Joe Behan came after senior council management backed the Ashford proposal at a recent council meeting.

The proposal has also been supported by the Wicklow Film Commission, which pointed out that the new studio, at 75,000 sq metres, could offer sets which are many times the size of those available in Bray.

However, Mr Behan said he feared the purpose of the Ashford rezoning was to facilitate a move by Ardmore Studios from Bray to Ashford.

The position of Ardmore Studios on the proposal is not known.

Attempts to contact Ardmore's management over the past two days were unsuccessful.

Mr Behan pointed out that Ardmore's management is represented on the Wicklow Film Commission, which supports the Ashford project.

The Wicklow Film Commission is chaired by Blaise Treacy, the former Wicklow county manager, and the current joint secretary is Wicklow County Council's director of community and enterprise, Tony O'Neill.

Another member of the film commission is the current county manager, Eddie Sheehy. The second joint secretary, Vibeke Djickman, is also an official of the council.

The film commission held a meeting on June 29th last to showcase the Ashford project and seek the support of councillors and council staff. That meeting was held at Ardmore Studios in Bray.

In a statement to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr Behan said: "I believe that this is the first phase in a plan to close Ardmore Studios in Bray. The film industry is one of the last remaining indigenous industries in Bray.

"I deplore the fact that senior management in Wicklow County Council, as well as the County Wicklow Film Commission and the management of Ardmore Studios, are enthusiastically supporting a private planning application which will have such devastating consequences," he said.

The Ashford proposal is in the name of Universal Innovations Ltd and is backed by land-owner Joe O'Connell. It is to be debated at a council meeting on Monday.

The Bray studios amount to about 20 acres of land between the N11 and the town. With development permission, the site would be worth tens of millions of euro.

Speaking on behalf of the film commission, Mr O'Neill said that the larger sets would be needed to secure large-scale movies such as The Chronicles of Narnia, if such large-scale movie-making was not to be lost to Ireland completely.

Mr O'Neill confirmed that council and commission roles "very definitely overlap".

He added that, in terms of county enterprise, "anything that guarantees extra income is part of my brief".

He confirmed that the film commission had briefed an invited audience on the merits of the Ashford plan at the meeting in Ardmore Studios in June.