High density move in Churchtown

As the implications of the third Bacon report are teased out, a planning application for the demolition of an existing house and its replacement by apartment blocks at Upper Churchtown Road, Churchtown, in south Dublin, appears to show the way suburban redevelopment will take place.

According to Dr Bacon there is a need for 20,000 new "dwelling units" - generally smaller homes to match the smaller-size households normal now - and while the majority of these will undoubtedly come from the release of serviced land, many will arise from suburban and "brownfield" redevelopment.

Brownfield redevelopment is the redevelopment of former industrial or warehouse sites such as those found in the Dublin docklands, while the Churchtown Road plan is an example of suburban redevelopment. Under the plan, Havrincourt House and Havrincourt Villa, at Finsbury Park, Upper Churchtown Road, would be demolished and replaced by 60 apartments in three blocks of two storeys with developed roofspace, over a basement car-park.

While the change in density may be somewhat dramatic, this is the kind of suburban redevelopment we are likely to see in future. Churchtown Road is well within the "metropolitan area" as defined by the Strategic Planning Guidelines and this is the area targeted by Dr Bacon for new dwellings.

Critics have argued that the ever-expanding growth of suburban Dublin is not sustainable and the low density of housing in the city is helping push up prices resulting in young people not being able to afford to live where they grow up.

Colm McCarthy, an economist with DKM Economic Consultants, agrees. He says the problem is that housing density in Dublin is way too low. The "footprint" of the city stretching out to eastern Westmeath, north Wexford and south Co Louth is, he says, all wrong. There is, he says, enough space within 10 miles of Dublin city to accommodate all the growth we need "and not have farmers making hay within the M50 ring route."

But don't expect higher densities overnight. Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has refused planning permission for 54 apartments in three blocks at Cabinteely Green, fronting Johnstown Road. The application was for three blocks of apartments and four single-storey garages in the name of Sloyan Brothers Ltd.