Lucan residents reject plan to rezone 500 acres in locality

Residents in Lucan, west Dublin have called for a three-year moratorium on land rezoning in the area, accusing South Dublin County Council of adopting a "developer-led approach" to the city's housing crisis.

Some 3,164 submissions were handed into South Dublin County Council yesterday, rejecting proposals in the council's draft development plan to rezone up to 500 acres in the area for residential and industrial development.

A representative body, All Lucan Against Rezoning Madness (ALARM), said the council should not make a decision on the plan until the Government publishes its strategic planning guidelines for Dublin.

The secretary of the group, Ms Brid in O'Connor, said the council was "planning within a vacuum. It should await the outcome of the report which is due within a year. According to the council there is enough land zoned for residential purposes for three years. So what's the rush?"

The draft plan proposes rezoning up to 1,200 acres, as much as 40 per cent of which is in Lucan. The townland's population is now in excess of 20,000, having risen by 40 per cent between 1991 and 1996.

Ms O'Connor said any further rezoning was "unsustainable without a major investment in local facilities. The facilities aren't adequate at the moment, never mind with 40,000 more people".

She said the rezoning plan would also remove green areas which act as a buffer between different townlands. "It's very hard to hold on to community spirit or a feeling of collective responsibility with this kind of urban sprawl. We are losing our identity," she said. Yesterday was the closing date for public submissions to the draft plan.