Hearing opens on Adamstown development

Ms Hazel Lawlor, the wife of the former TD Mr Liam Lawlor, failed to attend an oral planning hearing yesterday into the controversial Adamstown development planned for Lucan, west Dublin. Ms Lawlor wants to have the family home and lands in Lucan rezoned to allow them to be included in the 550-acre Adamstown site.

The Bord Pleanála oral hearing began in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin, yesterday. However, while Ms Lawlor was listed as an observer at the proceedings and was called twice to make her submission, she did not attend.

A number of other witnesses and observers, including An Taisce, failed to attend.

Ms Lawlor has already written to An Bord Pleanála to request that her property be included in the Adamstown Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), designated by the Government in 2001.

In her correspondence she notes that, while her property had been included in the original plan, it had now been excluded "for no explained or justifiable reason". The property is in the process of being transferred to her name alone.

The planning tribunal holds a lien of around €500,000 on the house in respect of legal bills arising from Mr Lawlor's efforts to avoid being jailed for failing to co-operate with the tribunal.

If the Adamstown high-density scheme is sanctioned, it will be taken out of the normal planning process and fast-tracked into the Government's national housing plan.

Yesterday's proceedings were opened with a submission from Mr Paul Hogan, a senior executive planner with South Dublin County Council.

He gave an outline of the nature of the scheme, which includes 8,250 dwelling units and a maximum of 125,500 sq m of non-residential development, four schools, a railway station and a fire station.

He said the non-residential floor space would be available for commercial, retail, community, office, civic and cultural use.

Under questioning by Mr Des Johnson, deputy planning office at An Bord Pleanála, Mr Hogan conceded that a section of the outer ring road near Lucan, viewed as vital for the development, had not been included in the council's plans.

Mr Hogan said that "as it stands", a private developer had indicated its willingness to build a railway station at the site and 2.2 km of link road in the area, improvements he doubted would have happened without Adamstown.

An Independent councillor, Mr Derek Keating, who is one of the parties opposing the scheme in its current format, said Lucan was already congested. Roads and schools were full to capacity and "patchwork" solutions were unacceptable.

Mr Eddie Conroy, senior architect with South Dublin County Council, said he believed the new development offered a complexity of design missing from other schemes in west Dublin.

A collection of residents groups is opposed to the development and hopes to expose what it sees as its flaws. The hearing is expected to continue for at least the rest of the week.