Residents oppose €2bn Bray plan

Residents of Bray, Co Wicklow, have said they will lodge an appeal against plans for a €2 billion town centre development.

Bray Town Council approved planning permission for the development, which is being promoted as a rival to the Dundrum Town Centre, on May 8th.

The core of the development, which will front on to the Dargle river, will involve 50,000 square metres of shops and an eight-screen cinema.

In addition, bars, restaurants and cafes, a 103-bedroom hotel, 347 apartments and duplexes, offices, creches, doctors' and dentists' surgeries and 3,090 underground car parking spaces are also included.

The plan also includes a village green and a seaside park. Some 18 acres will be set aside for a public park, a GAA facility and schools.

However, locals are concerned that the location of the shopping, retail and residential development, proposed by the developers the Pizarro consortium, could lead to extensive flooding of their homes.

The site is between the existing Castle Street shopping centre and the Dart line. It includes the old Bray golf course, bounded by the Dargle river. Locals say the golf course provided a flood plain when the river threatened to burst its banks.