Council adopts plan to rezone 225 acres in Santry Demesne

A controversial plan to rezone the 225-acre Santry Demesne in north Co Dublin was adopted yesterday by Fingal County Council.

The rezoning, a variation of the County Development Plan, provides for 92 acres of industrial use, 95 acres of open space, including a 75-acre public park, 28 acres of residential development and four acres for neighbourhood facilities, on the land which include Santry Woods.

While more than 2,000 trees were the subject of a preservation order, passed by Dublin County Council in the mid 1980s, yesterday's meeting heard that a recent survey had shown some 40 percent of these trees were in such a poor condition that they would have to be felled.

Proposing the rezoning, the county manager, Mr William Soffe, said the scheme had been worked out between council officials and Woodford Developments, the proposed developers of the land, and represented the optimum gain for the county council.

The county council's valuation officer had estimated the value of the land to be £17 million and two governments had refused the council funds to take the demesne into public ownership, he said.

Mr Soffe maintained that "Santry Woods is deteriorating by the day. It is a wasteland in private ownership and there is an urgent need to secure the health and future of as many trees as still exist". On the question of raising finance for public ownership of the park he recalled that Fingal County Council had "inherited the roads of a third world country" but was "facing up to its obligations". an Ryan (Labour) that the woods had been the subject of systematic vandalism. "There has been fairly widescale vandalism. People have been bussed in from all over the country to carry it out,", he commented.

He agreed with Mr Sean Ryan TD (Labour) that despite the preservation orders of the mid 1980s the woods had been the subject of systematic vandalism.

However, vehement opposition to the deal came from Mr David Healy of the Green Party who pointed out that the demesne is located on the city boundary and is much needed open space. The development could not be looked at in terms of the needs of Fingal alone, he argued, but in terms of the regeneration of Ballymun and the traffic management of Santry, among other issues. Mr Healy called for maps to be provided to allow members to assess the scheme in the context of the overall Dublin Corporation plan for the adjacent area as well as the forthcoming Draft Fingal Development Plan.

The socialist member, Mr Joe Higgins, said what was happening was that the county council was being "blackmailed" over the issue . "There are 2,300 trees of which 40 per cent are to be destroyed, according to the manager's report, that is a damming indictment.

"The land should be taken in charge under the derelict sites act and the owners jailed for such ruin and dereliction happening - private ownership doesn't give them the right to act as gods," he said.

Following the debate proposals by Mr Ryan, Mr Higgins and Mr Healy that the motion be deferred, that any residential development be limited in height to four storeys and that residential units be restricted to a total of 650, were defeated.

Proposals that the developer be required to submit a traffic management plan, that the proposed public park be developed to "fully reflect the heritage of the Santry area", and that no retail facilities be allowed in the area adjacent to Santry village, were adopted.

The vote to adopt the manager's proposed variation of the County Development Plan was passed by 14 votes to 5.