Council may avoid vote on Airfield road

A proposal by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to push through plans for a new road beside Airfield estate and urban farm using executive powers has been criticised.

Acting county manager and director of transportation Éamonn O'Hare told councillors at a private meeting this week that he was considering applying to An Bord Pleanála to build the planned Sandyford-Dundrum link road under a "protected road scheme".

The scheme, under section 45 of the 1993 Roads Act, allows the county manager to apply directly to the planning board. It has never been used before and would give the road a quasi-motorway status so no access roads could be built on to it.

It would ensure no access could be built from Airfield estate on to the new road, effectively protecting that area of the estate from development. However, it would also mean that councillors would not have a vote on whether or not the road was built.

The council had received 1,200 submissions on the proposed 1.7km road, 1,000 of which had opposed it.

Local residents had expressed concern at the impact of the road on the Airfield estate, fearing it would encourage residential development there and disrupt the farm's tranquillity.

They were also concerned about its effect on their homes.

The road would run through a narrow reservation at the rear of the Holywell estate in Stillorgan and alongside Balally Drive in Dundrum. Residents claim it would lead to serious noise and air pollution. It would also run six metres above some bungalows in the area and cause overshadowing of some homes.

Green Party councillor Ciarán Fallon said the proposal was an affront to local democracy. "If this goes ahead, Airfield will still be exposed and polluted and it will still lose 10 metres of land."

Independent councillor Gearóid O'Keeffe said the road was purely developer-driven. "It is an attempt to open up the industrial estate to greater development and to justify greater density and height," he said.

John O'Hanlon, spokesman for the Balally Residents' Association, said elected representatives must be given an opportunity to vote on the plan.

A spokeswoman for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said Mr O'Hare was looking at the "protected road scheme" with a view to addressing residents' concerns.

"A lot of submissions against the road were concerned with access to Airfield," she said.

"Mr O'Hare is trying to ease concerns and show that the council is not building the road to gain access to Airfield."

She added that if the scheme were to go ahead, there would be a public inquiry.