Airfield estate to renew attempt to sell land

The owners of Airfield farm and gardens in Dundrum, south Dublin, are renewing their attempt to sell off part of the estate in an effort to resolve its financial crisis.

The development follows indications from the Government that it will not make public money available to bridge an annual deficit of €400,000 at the Airfield Trust, which runs the 38-acre estate.

A new sale process is likely to revive the political controversy surrounding the future of Airfield, one of the last urban farms in Dublin. However, trust chairman John Edmondson said yesterday it might have to take "more drastic action" if it cannot resolve the financial crisis.

An effort last year to sell a 3.5-acre plot known as Dudley's Field ran aground in the run-up to the local elections, when Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council rescinded its zoning.

In preparation for a new sale process, the trust will soon ask the council to rezone Dudley's Field again as a neighbourhood centre. This would allow the development of low-rise housing or business units on the site.

Adjacent to the Balally Luas stop and running alongside the Wickham bypass extension, Dudley's Field would be highly valuable if rezoned. Mr Edmondson said yesterday that the trust had been in advanced negotiations to sell the field for €16 million before the neighbourhood centre zoning was rescinded last year.

The trust was set up in 1993 to administer the estate in line with the wishes of the late Letitia and Naomi Overend, who lived most of their lives at Airfield. It also manages a restaurant, educational programmes and arts and crafts courses.

While the trust argues that Dudley's Field is peripheral to the main estate, conservationists and local people say no part of the estate should be diluted.

Mr Edmondson said the trust could not allow its capital to be "inexorably eroded". "Airfield has an investment portfolio of €14 million which generates investment income of €440,000 annually," he said.

"When this income is added to revenue from admissions, restaurant etc, there is still an annual shortfall of around €400,000 compared to the costs of providing all these services."

Mr Edmondson said the money the trust hoped to raise from a sale would be used to part-fund "a careful programme over several years of enhancements and improvements" and would be invested in part to increase income and reduce the current operational deficit.

"The financial crisis facing the Airfield trustees has not gone away. In recent weeks the trust has had discussions with all the local TDs, including Ministers Séamus Brennan and Tom Kitt, as well as with the Minister for Education and the Minister of State for the Office of Public Works," he said.

The Ministers and TDs supported the trust's general strategy, were sympathetic to the plight of the trust and had made clear their willingness to support Airfield in every practical way.

"However, what is clear from this round of discussions is that there is no prospect of securing a significant capital injection from the Department of Education, the Office of Public Works or from general Government funds," Mr Edmondson said

The trust believed a sale of Dudley's Field was the key to resolving its financial crisis, "allowing the rest of the estate to be fully used and protected in perpetuity for the community".

This was dependent on a commercial development being permitted at the site.

"The trust has never had any intention of exploiting the current residential zoning of what are known as the Lower Fields at Airfield. If such an outcome can be reached on Dudley's Field, [ the trust] would be happy to see the rest of the estate revert to open space."