The experience of residents campaigning for a Special Area Amenity Order (SAAO) for Howth Head, Co Dublin, will be recounted at a public meeting in Bray, Co Wicklow, tonight.
Ms Jean Finn, a former chairwoman of Howth 2,000, will advise members of the Bray-based Save Our Head Organisation (SOHO), which wants a similar preservation order for Bray Head.
The SOHO campaign, in the Royal Hotel at 8 p.m., is in response to Bray Urban Council's decision to grant planning permission for 55 houses on the lower slopes of Bray Head at the Greystones Road.
The permission was granted to McInerney Construction on June 16th, following council debates at which members expressed their opposition to the plan. The councillors have now appealed their own authority's permission to An Bord Pleanala.
The permission was also appealed by SOHO, whose chairwoman, Wicklow Democratic Left TD Ms Liz McManus, says Bray Head is a vital natural amenity for locals as well as visitors.
"The response to our first public meeting to organise opposition to the proposed development was unprecedented and so far 8,000 to 9,000 signatures have been collected on a petition against the scheme," she said.
A SAAO is also being sought by residents campaigning against a proposed halting site for travellers at Dalkey Quarry, Co Dublin.