Howlin moves to protect Howth amenity areas from developers

SOME of the most sensitive and unspoiled amenity areas of the Howth peninsula are to be protected by law against insensitive development, the Minister for the Environment announced yesterday.

Mr Howlin said it was vitally important that the green belts and areas of natural beauty within Dublin be protected. "I am determined that Howth should be conferred with the highest protection afforded by law so that it is preserved forever for the people of Dublin," he said.

Addressing conservation and hill walking groups in Howth, he said he had directed Fingal County Council to make a Special Amenity Area Order (SAAO) for part of the peninsula, stretching from Red Rock around to, and including, the East Mountain.

However, it omits a vast area of moorland on the West Mountain, owned by the Howth Estate, because a small part of it is to be come a travellers' halting site and the Minister did not wish to leave himself open to accusations that he was interfering with this plan.

The land in the area covered by the proposed order is already zoned high amenity in the county development plan. It is on the seaward side of the R105 road, between its junction with Strand Road and the junction of Abbey Street and Harbour Road.

"In deciding to direct Fingal County Council to make this order, I was of the opinion that there is a prima facie case, on the basis of its outstanding natural beauty and its special recreational value, for saying that this area should be given the protection of an SAAO," he said.

An SAAO would free the council of liability to pay compensation over the refusal of planning permission in the area, as well as extending control over developments which would otherwise be exempt and enabling the council to protect flora and fauna.

For some years, conservationists in Howth have argued that an SAAO is required to safeguard the high amenity areas of the peninsula from the pressures for development, particularly expensive houses. Some feared that it might even be transformed into "another Killiney".

The threat was underlined seven years ago when the council granted permission to a Dublin businessman, Mr Gerry McGuinness, for a luxury ranch house, with stables and a swimming pool, to replace a three roomed cottage on the East Mountain.

Although this scheme was overturned on appeal to An Bord Pleanala, permission was subsequently granted for a scaled down house of 2,000 square feet, and earlier this year the site, with some 300 acres of land on the East Mountain, was acquired by Allenspark Ltd.

The company, controlled by two Dublin property developers, Mr Richard Barrett and Mr John Ronan, hoped to build houses on "less sensitive" parts of the land while donating the rest to the county council. But their scheme was strongly resisted by the East Mountain Action Group.

The developers could not be contacted to comment, but Ms Jean Finn, who leads the action group, said she was "absolutely delighted" with Mr Howlin's intervention. "Finally, someone has called a halt to the creeping development of the unique heathlands of the peninsula".

Referring to the fact that only the coastal area, including the famous Cliff Path, was covered by the proposed order, Ms Finn said she would be pressing for the West Mountain to be included as well, adding that this was within the discretion of Fingal councillors.

The council will now be required to draft an order and set in train the procedures for implementing it. If landowners object, there is provision for a public inquiry, with the final decision resting with the Minister.

Only two SAAOs have been made since the 1963 Planning Act came into force; one covering the Liffey valley and the other the Bull Island in Dublin Bay, which is a designated UNESCO biosphere reserve.