New City Plans Flawed, Bad Deal for Navan Road, Cabra and Glasnevin

1st February, 2009

Maximising the City’s Potential, the variation to the City Development Plan should be rejected. Councillor Mary O’Shea and I discussed this plan yesterday. It proposes increasing the building height for Pelletstown and Glasnevin Industrial Estate (also Grangegorman). This should not go ahead.

The reason for this is that neither site have realistic plans for improved infrastructure in the coming years. I have organised 2 public meetings in the last year about how the current service for the Navan Road and Cabra area is inadequate. The Finglas road is already congested, and will be more so with the opening of the new Glasnevin Cemetary Heritage Centre.

Instead the Council should do the following:-

Firstly, review the City Development Plan more frequently. If the additional trains and Luas lines actually look like they will happen then it is appropriate to review development guidelines for the adjacent areas.

Secondly, allocate development across the entire city. Why is all of the high rise on the North side?

Finally, kick start the existing Area and Framework plans instead of continually instigating new ones? Whither the Phibsborough Area Plan, the Pelletstown Masterplan or the East Wall Framework Plan?