Greystones looks to hold on to its charm in the face of expansion

Regulars drinking at the La Touche Hotel in Greystones, Co Wicklow, in the 1960s and early 1970s would be asked for their car keys after the third gin and tonic and the hotel would find someone to drive them home. Greystones was that kind of place back then.

Local resident Eamonn Foley of the Ross McParland agency has romantic memories of a village where you knew everybody, even the families who rented houses by the beach in the summer.

From the late 1960s, starting with La Touche Park, Applewood Heights and Rathdown Park, wave after wave of modern estates were built amid local unease that the character of the quaint fishing village would be altered. Once settled in, the new residents swelled the ranks of opposition against further development.

Early signs that the expansion of Greystones was inevitable surfaced around the turn of the century. At this time the Anglo-Irish Burnaby family, who lived where Greystones golf club now stands, built a housing estate on the edge of the village. Free tickets on the new railway were included as an incentive to buy.

The original community of Greystones was more than doubled when the Burnaby was completed. This was possibly as disquieting for the residents as is the present-day dispute over a large development between Killincarrig and Delgany. The latest challenge to Greystones' small-town charm comes in the form of a recently launched draft plan for the town that will increase the approximately 12,000 population by 35 per cent. The north beach area will be transformed with a 300-berth marina, heritage park, a six-acre public park and a community club.

A low-rise 250-unit apartment complex will back on to the railway line and the Town Commissioners say the Bulloch Harbour-style development will not interfere with the sea view. According to chairman Mr Derek Mitchell, the apartments will pay for coastal protection in the harbour area, where erosion at four feet per year is causing concern. Dredging of the harbour, silted up by a discarded platform from the Kish lighthouse, will also be funded by the marina development. Boundaries, for long a contentious issue in the Greystones/Delgany area, will be further stretched by Wicklow County Council's decision to rezone 30 acres at Farrankelly to the south of the town at nine houses to the acre and lands at Charlesland and Drummin East (Delgany) for industrial development.

"There has been no industry whatsoever in Greystones because what people sought was the oldworld seaside element," says auctioneer John Doyle of Bray agency H.J. Byrne, commenting on what could turn out to be the most controversial element of the proposed changes. Gordon Lennox of Jackson Stops & McCabe views the industrial site and new housing at Charlesland as "filling an obvious need in the town". A long-awaited new approach road off the N11 south of Delgany will enter Greystones at the southern end. Space will be reserved for new schools, although nothing has been planned so far. The draft plan will go on public display for a month before its official adoption later this year.

Anticipation of the DART coming out as far as Greystones this year has boosted an already buoyant property market in the town. Unbeatable leisure amenities have always attracted young families to the modern estates that wrap around the older residential areas of the town. There are three golf clubs, Charlesland, Greystones and Delgany and the championship Druid's Glen course is minutes away by car. Rugby, GAA and tennis clubs are all popular and there is a long-established sailing club on north beach. South of the town there is a good sandy beach and the cliff walk to Bray is a must at weekends for residents. All this - and the wilderness of the Wicklow mountains is on the doorstep for hill walking and horse riding enthusiasts.

Over the years, property values have risen in tandem with comparable choice north Wicklow villages and shared in last year's 20 per cent price hike. Older roads such as Church Road and The Burnaby sold at a premium, mainly to non-residents moving in to the area.

Last year, Jackson Stops & McCabe sold Clonbryn, a period house on Kinlen Road, The Burnaby, for in excess of £400,000. It sold the same house in 1988 for just over £80,000. The agency also achieved about £400,000 for a house on St Vincent's Road, The Burnaby, that changed hands 10 years ago for under £70,000. Good detached period houses in this sought-after estate sell these days for upwards of £700,000.

According to auctioneer Ray Phillips of Phillips Partnership, buyers are unlikely to get into Greystones for under £130,000. This agency sold a couple of two-bedroom semi-detached bungalows at Redford Park last autumn for £120,000 and £125,000.

Modern three and four-bedroom semis, once ideal first-time buyer properties, have reached over £200,000 in some cases. Houses in older estates such as Rathdown and Applewood Heights had a price tag of under £20,000 in the early 1970s.

In 1998, a four-bedroom semi at Rathdown Park broke the £200,000 barrier. A similar house currently on the market through Jackson Stops is guiding in excess of £190,000. Sherry Fitzgerald sold a three-bedroom dormer bungalow at Heathervue for £175,000 and a modern three-bedroom townhouse opposite the La Touche hotel for £180,000.

Properties on the market this season include a semi in Rathdown Park with Jackson Stops quoting in excess of £190,000; a dormer at La Touche Park with the same agent guiding £220,000; and a new 1,800 sq ft house at the Arch for £300,000. Sherry FitzGerald is selling a large period house at The Burnaby on three-quarters of an acre of gardens, guiding £795,000. Are there any bargains left in Greystones? Excouncil houses at Kenmare Heights can sometimes be bought for around £100,000 but the cottages at Grattan Park are well over £100,000 because of their character and large plots. Jackson Stops has a two-bedroom cottage with good gardens at Blacklion, needing work but priced accordingly, at in excess of £100,000.

The personality of the town is bound to alter to some extent if the new marina, housing and employment-generating industries become a reality. At the core, however, it will retain the seaside village charm that has attracted generations of families to put down roots in Greystones.