JUNE / JULY 2007
NewsFour Free Community Newspaper serving Sandymount, Irishtown, Ringsend, Docklands, Ballsbridge and Donnybrook Web: www.news4.ie • E-mail: newsfourscs@eircom.net • Local Newsdesk: Phone 6673317
HIGH RISES FOR BALLSBRIDGE SITE REJECTED… FOR NOW By John Cavendish
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hatʼs another year? Thatʼs how long it will be before Dublin City Councillors have to re-consider plans for high-rise, mixed use development in the Ballsbridge area again. One of Ballsbridgeʼs characteristics is the expanse of green trees and parkland and this alone would cause concern about any plans for re-development. On 11th June the South East Area Committee of Dublin City Council met to discuss the Area Plan for Ballsbridge and overwhelmingly rejected it. The assistant city manager Michael Stubbs formally proposed the local area plan. Councillor Mary Freehill could not understand how it usually takes so long to get local area plans done and “all of a sudden a developer buys land and it is done like that.” The chairman of the SEA Committee, Councillor Dermot Lacey
said that the whole plan should be rejected and the process begun again. It was, he said, “unamendable” in its present form. The viewersʼ gallery was packed with residents who had campaigned from the outset against the plan, which could see high-rise buildings of up to 20 storeys in the grounds of the Berkeley Court and Juryʼs Hotels as well as the former Veterinary College and Hume House. Councillor Wendy Hederman said the DEGW report on heights did no identify Ballsbridge for high rise. She said this zoning refers to inner-suburb mixed use, while the area is residential. Councillor Daithí Doolan said
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there should have been adequate consultation with the community and he said the plan was a “developersʼ charter.” Councillor Gerard Gillen said there is a need to temper the area vision with the requirements of business and there had been a lot of “jumping the gun” in this. He said that Fine Gael was against the plan. The plan was rejected by the Local Area Committee and later a full Council meeting also rejected the plan. Councillor Dermot Lacey told ʻNewsFourʼ that there would have to be a better plan for Ballsbridge, “one which takes into account the wider needs of the area and not just the developers.”
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John Gormley of the Green Party at the Umbrella Action Day on Sandymount Strand. The event was organized by the ʻStop Climate Chaosʼ group to bring to the governmentʼs attention the need for a reduction in emissions to prevent runaway climate change. For more information see www.stopclimatechaos.ie
A GREAT SUMMER READ! Are there really farmers in Donnybrook? Must be, because there is a Donny brook Farmers’ Market! See page 3.
Man’s (and woman’s) best friend takes a bow wow on page 4. We talk to several of their owners as well!
Author Jodi Picoult talks about her latest book which echoes some recent disturbing real-life events. See page 24.
Tired of being ripped off by overpriced gigs with underpowered performances? Glastonbudget may well be for you. See page 39.
Thomas Kinsella, pictured here with Lord Mayor Vincent Jackson, at the unveiling of a plaque in his honour. See page 19.