In Clonsilla, residents say council should finish plan for the village before further development is okayed

Outside the Clonsilla Inn, a site notice on Monday morning was fixed to a utility pole.

Developer McHugh Property Holdings Limited has major plans for lands both to the front and rear of the busy pub, it says.

McHugh Property had, on 11 July, applied to Fingal County Council for permission to build 170 apartments across a total of seven blocks, ranging in height from one to five storeys.

Owing to its size, the housing plans are rounded out with a few extra amenities and facilities – with proposed private open space for its residents, and a cafe with outdoor seats and a childcare facility.

It’s not enough to just build flats with nothing for the community, said Christine Moore of the Clonsilla and Porterstown Heritage Society. “We need things like that.”

But this application is premature, because a wider plan for the Clonsilla area – which Fingal County Council is developing – should be in place first, she says.

A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said there are no provisions within its development plan that would restrict people from filing planning applications before the framework plan is done.

Labour Councillor John Walsh says this undermines the importance of community-led planning.

Where is the village plan?

Clonsilla residents have been waiting 16 years for an updated masterplan to set out what should be built in the village, Moore says.

Fingal County Council previously published its urban framework strategy for the village in May 2008.

A new Clonsilla Framework Plan – covering travel, housing, biodiversity, community amenities and the preservation of local heritage –  went out for public consultation in February. Seventy people wrote in.

The plan, wrote the council in its blurb for the consultation, would manage and influence village centre improvements, as well as enhancing community infrastructure.

But the full results of that consultation haven’t seen the light of day yet, says Walsh, the Labour councillor. “The process has started, but the draft plan hasn’t been released.”

Locals haven’t heard a thing as to when they’ll see the outcome of those workshops, Moore says.

A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said preparatory works on the framework continue, but didn’t say when a draft would be done.

Walsh says that local concern is that big developments, like the one proposed by McHugh Property, forestall the point of the framework plan, says Walsh. “There is a serious danger that this would sideline community-led planning in the area.”

These kinds of frameworks act as a roadmap for sustainable development, laying out what is the appropriate scale of a development in the village, he says.

Moore points to the 2008 strategy. It restricted the height of new developments to three storeys in the village.

McHugh Property aren’t gunning for high-rises, with their proposal reaching five storeys, she says. “But it’s definitely higher than a village aspect.”

Although, when it comes to building heights, national policy setting heights overrides any local plans, she says.

In the absence of the village plan, the developers are establishing facts on the ground which effectively nullify the impact of the local consultation, Walsh says.

“The advantage of having that plan is that any future application has to take account of it, and refer to the plan,” he says.

Adding pressure

What is disappointing about this proposed development is the scale, Walsh says.

“It’s too extensive, and would impose an intolerable pressure on the suburban road network,” he says.

In 2008, the Clonsilla Urban Strategy pointed to heavy peak-hour motor traffic on Clonsilla Road, with the narrow footpaths – and a general lack of permeability in the village – holding more people back from walking. The strategy had also suggested an “active travel route”.

But those issues haven’t yet been addressed, said a submission to the new framework plan by the Fingal Active Travel Group.

Clonsilla Road is still a busy road, Walsh says. “There’s St Mochta’s National School along the Porterstown Road, and it’s a very busy thoroughfare for students walking to  Scoil Choilm Community National School and Luttrellstown Community College.”

A submission to the new framework plan by The Village Porterstown Residents Association said the Porterstown and Clonsilla Road junction is dangerous and its roads extremely narrow.

Residents who weighed in on McHugh’s application say they worry about more on-street parking too, as the new development provides 77 parking spaces for 170 apartments.

Reduced parking in new developments has been one means for the government to try to encourage less car-use and reduce construction costs.

One resident, Peter Lynam, wrote that this could lead to parking all over, and overspill onto the Clonsilla and Porterstown Roads, resulting in hazardous traffic movements.

A traffic assessment by ORS Building Consultants on McHugh’s behalf concluded that the impact of traffic associated with the site would be negligible.

Moore, of the Clonsilla and Porterstown Heritage Society, says it is premature for the council to be signing off on this proposed development before these kinds of issues are thrashed out in a framework plan.

“For it to be meaningful, the council can’t be meeting with developers in advance, because it paves the way for the development to sneak in before the framework is shared,” she says.

A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said that, as they continue preparatory works, the planning authority looks forward to further public engagement and consultation on the publication of the draft plan.