Anger over Milltown apartments

A proposal to build 18 apartments at a site zoned for recreational use in Milltown, Dublin 6 has been met with much criticism from residents.

Today is the final day for lodging appeals in relation to Dublin City Council's decision to grant Starrs Holdings permission to build 18 apartments on an area called Scully's Field. The site between Ramleh Park, the River Dodder, O'Shea's pub and Milltown Church has the same zoning as St Stephen's Green.

McGarrell Reilly Contractors was given approval for 92 units on the site last year. This plan is under appeal and is expected to be decided next month.

The latest scheme includes plans for 18 apartments and a pedestrian bridge across the River Dodder. Dublin City Council received over 150 objections to the development but gave the go-ahead late last year.

The development will result in the loss of potential recreational amenity, trees, wildlife, natural habitat and will less the absorbing powers of a flood plain and damage the water quality of the River Dodder, according to the Milltown Residents Association.

In its appeal, the group points out that the locality is "bereft" of outdoor recreational facilities and said that Scully's Field provides the council with an "opportunity to remedy this situation".

"Time and time again Dublin City Council has assured the local public that the site would not be built on."

The proposal will "quite simply destroy forever any possibility of any real, and much needed, park in the area", according to resident Antony Greer, who said the scheme would involve an "intolerable invasion of privacy" for residents of Ramleh Close.

Another appellant states that it was intended to develop the site as part of the Dodder Valley Walk.

The decision has also been appealed by Green Party TD for South Dublin Eamon Ryan who said that removing the green strip of land along the Dodder would be a "dreadful and irreversible mistake".

Starrs Holdings lists Kieran Patrick McKenna and Shirley McKenna as directors.