5,000 new homes planned for N11 corridor in north Wicklow

Almost 5,000 homes are set to be built along the N11 in north Co Wicklow – with major population increases earmarked for Ashford, Newtownmountkennedy, and Fassaroe.

In a key decision earlier this month, An Bord Pleanála upheld a decision by Wicklow County Council to grant permission for 169 houses on the outskirts of Ashford.

Ashford currently contains some 531 homes but is zoned for another 858. In addition, Newtownmountkennedy has planning permission for nearly 900 houses and zoning for another 1,800. There is currently a planning application pending for more than 600 houses in Fassaroe, part of a larger development of about 1, 500 houses.

Much of the development along the N11 corridor is opposed by locals partly on the basis that the council’s development plan took a “scatter gun” approach to population targets.

Planning inquiry

At a An Bord Pleanála planning inquiry in relation to the 169 new homes in Ashford, opponents said the County Development Plan should instead have concentrated growth in areas that offered potential employment and good transport cent links such as Bray, Greystones, Wicklow Town and Arklow.

The planning inquiry was told the County Development Plan was flawed in that the settlement strategy did not accurately or adequately respond to Government policy such as “smarter travel” which related to walking and issues of public transport and employment.

Developments such as the 169 homes at Ashford – and the remainder of the 800 homes that the development plan envisaged – would simply add hundreds of cars to the busy N11 morning commute, opponents claimed.

In his report on the 169 houses the Bord Pleanála inspector referred to a mismatch between Government policy to support sustainable development that is not car dependent and he asserted there was “no understanding as to why Ashford would be selected to facilitate such an expansion of population in the immediate term”.

Growth centre

However, An Bord Pleanála overturned the opinion of its inspector, taking the view that the County Development Plan had identified Ashford as a growth centre and was the correct planning instrument to identify growth areas.

Local independent planner Judy Osborne who objected to the Ashford development on the grounds of transport and national policy among other reasons said An Bord Pleanála’s decision effectively upheld the council’s “scatter gun” approach to housing.

“It’s not good enough just to build houses. We need to be building decent places to live and if you can’t even walk safely to the main street or to public transport for work, that does not end happily” she said.

The anticipated extra traffic is set to complicate matters for campaigners for improvements to the M50/M11 merge near Bray.

Local Wicklow councillor Derek Mitchell has campaigned for improvements at the junction in advance of the build-out of the Cherrywood strategic development zone which is on the Dublin-Wicklow border.