Powerscourt development opposed by irate locals

Locals say it is unfair that Powerscourt may be developed commercially when they are not allowed to build

Opposition is growing in Co Wicklow to plans by the Powerscourt Estate to develop 108 holiday homes in the grounds of the stately home, near Enniskerry.

The owners of the estate, the Slazenger family, are seeking planning permission to develop the holiday homes, along with additional shops, offices and restaurants.

Powerscourt, a listed structure, was designed by Richard Cassels and built on the site of previous houses and castles in the decade after 1731. It stands in a scene of considerable natural beauty and its vistas are protected in the Wicklow County Development Plan.

The house was destroyed by fire in 1974 but was restored during the 1990s when profits from housing development were reinvested in the buildings.

Powerscourt now houses a number of up-market clothes, furniture and gift shops, as well as a coffee shop and an audiovisual exhibition on the history of the house. Its extravagant ballroom is available for functions.

The application for planning permission represents a material contravention of the Wicklow County Development Plan and is due to come before councillors this September, where it will require a two-thirds majority to be successful.

However, opposition has come from a number of local families, and from local Fianna Fáil TD and Minister for State for Europe, Mr Dick Roche.

At the heart of the opposition is the prohibition on building in the vista of Powerscourt House which locals claim denies them the ability to build one-off houses on their lands.

They maintain it is unfair that Powerscourt may be developed commercially - including the erection of holiday homes - when they cannot build.

According to Mr Roche, there are "young people here whose great-grandfathers, grandfathers and fathers lived on this land and who have no chance of ever affording the hundreds of thousands of euro required to build elsewhere".

Mr Roche added he had supported the original planning permission for the development of housing on the estate, near the village of Enniskerry, on the understanding that the profits were to be reinvested in the restoration of the house.

"Instead, we got a shopping mall - a very up-market shopping mall it must be said - but here is an application for further shopping units, offices and holiday homes and the restoration of the house is still not complete. In fact, some of it is pastiche," he said.

The estate is currently run by Ms Sarah Slazenger, who was not available for comment on the development yesterday.

However, in a letter to councillors dated July 31st this year, Ms Slazenger pointed out that planning permission for holiday accommodation was part of the original planning permission but had been allowed to lapse. She claimed the current scheme therefore "represents alterations to this previously permitted development, rather than the introduction of new land uses".

Ms Slazenger told the councillors that the current proposal constitutes an improvement on the predecessor, "incorporating best landscape and conservation principles".

Ms Slazenger said the proposal was "essential" in order to continue to support and maintain the house and gardens, which she noted were "now recognised by Bord Fáilte as the one of the principle houses and garden attractions in the State".