Overview

The Plan

South Dublin County Council (SDCC) presented mixed tenure developments at the Council Meeting of the 8th of July 20191. The presentation included a Draft Master Plan for SDCC owned lands in Rathcoole. This was subsequently well covered on local media. The Draft Master Plan for Rathcoole is for (Figure 1):

  • Residential Development – 250 houses
  • School
  • Library
  • GAA pitches
  • Amenity areas
Figure 1: Draft Master Plan for South Dublin County Council owned lands in Rathcoole as of July 2019

Land Ownership

The only land that SDCC owns in Rathcoole is Rathcoole Woodlands and Rathcoole Park (Figure 2). The other parties that own lands outlined in the Master Plan are the GAA (agreed disposal which suggests not yet), the Department of Education and the people of Rathcoole (three corner field, requires confirmation). Therefore, full implementation of the plan requires the cooperation and agreement of these parties. Land ownership needs verification.

Figure 2: Land ownership for the Draft Master Plan

Planning Context

Rathcoole Woodlands is zoned new residential under the County Development Plan (Figure 3). The ‘GAA lands’ are zoned open space/ recreation amenity. The GAA submitted a planning application in 2008 (SD08A/0153)2 which was granted but never enacted. This was because Plan). Both areas have access challenges (Figure 4).

Figure 3: The planning zones from South Dublin County Development Plan 2016- 2022 with: Woodland (SDCC land) outlined in red, GAA owned lands outlined in pink, and Department of Education (Dept. Ed.) land outlined in blue
Figure 4: The present context and use of land in the proposed Draft Master Plan

In November 2018, Romeville Developments submitted 2 planning applications to SDCC for 99 and 93 houses on lands immediately south of the Woodland (planning SD18A/0364 and SD18A/0413). Both applications were subsequently withdrawn. Therefore, potentially, revised plans can be submitted for the development of these lands.

One of the submissions made with the Romeville application was a ‘Local Area Plan’ outlining the development and included a figure that outlined development on the Woodland (Figure 5a and b). Note that this ‘Local Area Plan’ was not put to public consultation which is a legal requirement. The area plan3 was ‘prepared by Virtus Project Management, with input from C&W O’Brien Architects, acting on behalf of the majority landowner, Romeville Ltd, and in consultation with South Dublin County Council’. And the Dublin Gazette article refers to Rathcoole being a joint venture with private developers.

Figure 5a: Planning applications submitted to SDCC by Romeville Developments but withdrawn; purple (phase 1= 99 houses) and yellow (phase 2 = 98 houses)
Figure 5b: Future envisaged development extract from ‘Local Area Plan’ submitted by Romeville Developments with the addition of Woodland\SDCC land superimposed in yellow

The Process

The understood process to achieve the plan is a Part 8 which includes:

  • SDCC will produce the plan for Rathcoole and the associated legally required reports
  • the plan will be presented to Clondalkin Area Committee, your publically elected local representatives, for their input, and if they are satisfied
  • it will then go before the 40 councillors of SDCC who will vote and if passed
  • the plan will go to public consultation
  • submissions under the consultation process will be addressed and the plan amended, if needed