Following a recent presentation to Wicklow County Councillors by the Special Projects Officer, Mr Sean Quirke, on revisions to the Harbour project submitted to an Bord Pleanala, Green councillor, Deirdre de Burca has claimed that these revisions do not properly respond to the Request for Further Information made by an Bord Pleanala.

“In the first place the Board asked for the materials in the old dump at Darcy’s field to be moved to another location” says de Burca. “In response the council has says that it will merely relocate 9000 m³ of the total 29,000 m³ of these materials to another part of the same site. The Board also asked that the council consider transporting the 40,000 m³ of beach nourishment material that forms part of the proposed coastal protection works in by sea. The council has argued that this is not necessary and proposes to bring the materials in by road from a site located between Kilpedder and Newtownmountkennedy”.

De Burca says she is very concerned about the proposed “batching plant” and borrow pit that will be in place at Darcy’s field. “The batching plant is a casting yard or facility for making concrete, which is to produce the very large concrete blocks for the proposed breakwater and the pier on site” says de Burca. “It will be in place for an estimated 2 year period. The borrow pit at the back of Darcy’s field will be a temporary facility for depositing engineering fill and inert and excavated material. The council tells us that the batching plant and borrow pit will be a minimum of 135 metres from the nearest residence but I am not convinced and believe that some of the houses in Redford Park may be nearer than that”.

The Green Party councillor says that the council’s willingness to reduce the number of residential units by 34 raises serious questions about its previous insistence that 375 residential units were absolutely essential in order to make the project financially viable. “Strangely enough the council is now telling us that the project will still be viable even with a reduction of 34 units” she says. She adds that although the commercial space in the revised project is less, there will still be 5,525 m² of commercial development.

“The council is still insisting that this development will be wonderful for Greystones” says de Burca. “Council officials and councillors who support this project are ignoring the fact that a majority of the people of Greystones do not want this massive, ultra-modern model of development imposed on their harbour and North Beach. They want to see something much smaller in scale and more sympathetic to the Victorian character of the town. Unfortunately the views of the people of the town don’t appear to carry much weight in the overall process. It seems to be a case of ‘you’ll have this development whether you like it or not’. This makes a mockery of the public consultation processes that are mandated by law. ” she says.

All councillors present at the meeting agreed to write to an Bord Pleanala asking it to consider holding a second oral hearing following submission of the council’s revised proposals.