Council wants zoning changes in Greystones

Wicklow County Council is considering reducing the size of an architectural conservation area at The Burnaby in Greystones. The council is also proposing to amend the zoning of adjacent estates in a move which could open these to higher-density development.

The council, which adopted a local area plan for Greystones and Delgany last December, this month began a process to amend that plan and reduce the size of the conservation area while also rezoning the adjacent estates.

The council has said that the impetus for the changes came from submissions from Fine Gael councillor George Jones and town planners John Spain and Associates during the drafting of the local area plan.

In effect, the changes would mean that newer, contemporary housing at South Place and on the eastern side of Burnaby Road would be taken out of the conservation area. The houses taken out of the conservation area would then be rezoned from R3, which permits up to 10 houses per hectare, to the more vague RE, which allows for infill development and which observers said might allow apartment blocks to replace the low-density housing.

While council papers record Mr Jones making a submission in favour of the changes, the councillor said yesterday that he could not recall such a submission. He told The Irish Times that he was determined to vote against the changes and said that there was already enough land zoned in Greystones to provide for the town's needs. He did not believe that allowing Burnaby residents to sell expensive sites was in the best interests of the area.