Rezoning plan for heritage garden 'inappropriate'

A PROPOSAL to rezone a heritage garden in south Dublin is “unwarranted and inappropriate”, the county manager of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Owen Keegan, has said.

A motion to rezone Fernhill Estate in Stepaside, at the foot of the Dublin Mountains, is to be considered by councillors as part of the council’s draft county development plan. More than 1,900 submissions were received by the council as part of the public consultation on the plan.

The figure was more than 10 times the number of submissions received by Cork City Council during its development plan consultation process, councillors were told at the first in a series of meetings to debate the plan last night.

And councillors also tabled over 400 motions to amend the plan. Among the most controversial was one to rezone Fernhill Estate from open space and amenity to allow for residential development.

Fernhill contains a large historic garden that is open to the public and features planting from the mid-19th century.

Fine Gael councillors Jim O’Leary and Barry Ward tabled the motion to allow for a development on the 33-acre site which would include a public park, development of the historic house, a garden design and cookery school and extensive housing.

The councillors said the proposal was “a unique and innovative vision for the development of the estate that will secure future public access in perpetuity to the renowned historic gardens and provide a range of cultural and educational facilities”.

But in his report to councillors, seen by The Irish Times, Mr Keegan recommended the proposal be rejected.

“Not withstanding the potential public benefits being mooted . . . it is considered these are insufficient to outweigh the unwarranted and inappropriate residential rezoning considered necessary to facilitate the overall project,” he said. The area was a buffer zone between metropolitan Dublin and the foothills of the Dublin Mountains and should be protected, he said.

The Fernhill proposal is due to come up for debate within the next three weeks. It is understood that should councillors vote to accept it, Minister for the Environment John Gormley will object to the proposal.

Some 155 sites in all were recommended for rezoning by the public through 346 submissions.