Dublin People - Councillors vote to rezone Saggart green belt

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Councillors vote to rezone Saggart green belt

Thursday, 29 May 2008

South Dublin county councillors have rezoned land in a green belt area at Citywest to allow for the development of a massive shopping centre - against the advice of county planners.
Councillors voted by an almost two to one majority to alter the county development plan to facilitate the rezoning near Saggart.
The vote went against the recommendation of the county manager and legal opinion that the council could be leaving itself exposed to judicial review proceedings from the developers of a rival shopping centre.
Some 13 councillors voted for the variation, seven against and three were absent. The three Fine Gael councillors who were present declined to vote
The development, known as the Golf Village on Fortunestown Lane in Saggart, had previously been zoned as green belt to cater for golfers.
However, councillors voted to rezone it as ''local centre'' facilities, allowing a wide range of retail uses on the site.
The county manager's report on the proposed variation of the development plan argued that there was already enough retail space in the area.
The newly opened Citywest Shopping Centre has 9,800 square metres of retail space, of which about 18 per cent remains vacant, according to the report.
The manager also said the change would have a negative impact on the viability of the Citywest Shopping Centre and would be contrary to the overall settlement strategy for the county.
In addition, the existing local centre of Saggart Village has 3,660 square metres of existing and permitted retail space, the manager pointed out.
Planning permission for over 90 per cent of this centre had only been granted in the past number of years and some of this space was still available for letting, the manager said.
Cllr Tony McDermott (GP) said the Citywest Shopping Centre was opened only last September and had plenty of vacant retail space to fill.
“Saggart Village also has thousands of square feet of retail space available,” he said. “This variation of the County Development Plan is uncalled for and not good for the area."
In addition he noted that there was not a single submission supporting the rezoning during the public consultation period.
“This decision puts at risk the viability and vitality of existing shopkeepers in Saggart,” he added. “I can see no justification for the decision of my fellow councillors to speculatively rezone green belt land.”

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