Coveney blocks plans for 500 houses near Dunboyne

Minister for Housing Simon Coveney has blocked plans for a development of 500 houses and a new enterprise zone near Dunboyne, Co Meath, close to the Dublin border.

Mr Coveney has ordered Meath County Council to reverse its decision to zone land at Pace, a townland 1.5km-2km north of Dunboyne and close to the M3 motorway and Parkway rail station, for housing, retail and employment.

Mr Coveney's predecessor Alan Kelly warned the council on two previous occasions, in January and April this year, not to zone the land in the townland of Pace, but councillors voted unanimously last May for the zoning, on the recommendation of council chief executive Jackie Maguire.

Mr Coveney subsequently used his powers under the planning acts to issue a draft ministerial direction ordering the council to remove the new zoning from the County Development Plan. The council has until the middle of next month to respond to the minister before the direction takes effect.

The direction states that the council had ignored or not taken sufficient account of the submissions made in January and April and was not in compliance with the planning acts.

It states that the proposed development of 500 homes would be “detached and distant from the existing urban area of Dunboyne and disconnected from the established social, community and other infrastructure of the town”.

Strategic location

Zoning an area 1.5km-2km away from Dunboyne would be a clear breach of the sequential approach to development which discourages “leapfrogging” to remote areas, it says.

The plan to allow “high technology/office/logistics employment” development at the lands had the potential to generate traffic volumes which would limit the operation of the M3, it states.

A spokeswoman for the council said Ms Maguire’s response to the Minister is “currently being finalised” and is due for submission on August 9th.

However, when the same issues were raised last January and April, Ms Maguire had made a robust defence and recommended to councillors that they not reverse the zoning decision.

She said Dunboyne was “readily capable” of accommodating additional residential development because of its strategic location in the greater Dublin area, and the site for the 500 houses had been envisaged as a significant extension of the town.

The inclusion of the enterprise and employment zoning would allow the development of a “live work” community which would give people the opportunity to live close to their job, and the proximity of the motorway and the M3 Parkway station, just over 500 metres from the site, would encourage inward commuting instead of outward to Dublin.

“At present Dunboyne has a very high outbound commuter rate of 77 per cent. The reason for very high commuter rates from Dunboyne, and indeed from other towns in Meath, is the lack of employment opportunities locally.”

Local Fine Gael TD Helen McEntee said she had agreed with the council's decision but did not want to comment further. Other local TDs, Fianna Fáil's Thomas Byrne and Government chief whip Regina Doherty, could not be reached for comment.