Decision on €300m harbour plan deferred

An Board Pleanála has deferred indefinitely its decision on whether to allow Wicklow County Council to press ahead with the controversial redevelopment of Greystones harbour.

The council applied to the planning board for permission for the €300 million scheme more than two years ago. The board subsequently received more that 6,000 objections to the development, which would transform the village with 375 new homes including four-storey apartment blocks.

The board was due to deliver its verdict on the application earlier this week, following a protracted period of deliberation, including an oral hearing, however its meeting broke up on Thursday evening without reaching a decision.

It is understood that the board still has certain difficulties with the council's application and it is unlikely that it will be in a position to make a decision in the short term. A spokesman for An Bord Pleanála said yesterday that it was "uncertain" when a decision would be made.

The project, developed jointly by the council and its private-sector partners, property developers Park Developments and civil engineers John Sisk, operating as the Sispar consortium, has faced strenuous resistance from local residents and An Taisce since its inception.

Aspects of the development have also been opposed by a number of State agencies. The Department of the Marine, the Dublin Transportation Office, the Department of the Environment and Fáilte Ireland are among those who made submissions to the board against the development ahead of the nine-day public hearing last April.

Fáilte Ireland said the plans constituted "over-development" of the site. It expressed concern at the location, scale and mass of the proposed housing development, which it said would completely screen the existing town when viewed from the sea and from the north beach.

The Department of the Marine was strongly critical of plan's level of protection against coastal erosion which it said was "close to a do-nothing scenario".

The Department of the Environment raised concerns about the architectural heritage of the area and said the current Victorian setting would be "entirely altered".

The Dublin Transportation Office said the plans did not appear to take into account increases in population and that the road earmarked for construction traffic did not appear to be wide enough to ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists also using it.

Local residents associations have opposed the scale of the development which they said would destroy the Victorian village. They also campaigned against the compulsory purchase of land for the development and have raised major concerns in relation to traffic implications.