New deadline for submissions
Friday, 8th May, 4pm
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority, DDDA, is finalising plans for an extensive high-density, 5-15 story mixed development, effectively a new town for 10,000 people, on Poolbeg. The plans, EIS and photo-montages are displayed in Ringsend, Pearse St and Pembroke libraries, and at the DDDA offices at 52-55 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay (phone:8183300 or see www.dublindocklands.ie).
You can make submissions and put in your comments up until 4pm on Friday, 8th May, by e-mail to poolbeg@dublindocklands.ie or delivered, addressed to Niall Mulcahy, Secretary DDDA, 52-55 Sir John Rogersons Quay, Dublin, 2
The Poolbeg Planning scheme Special Interest Group, which I am on, obtained a 4-week extension to the submissions deadline (having asked for 6 months) from the DDDA, as the information displayed was in our view seriously misleading. Local engineer Joe McCarthy’s analysis, of the draft Scheme and its EIS, exposed that the buildings are two stories higher than previously stated, because of two levels of car-parking. There is also a plan to raise land levels, including the Nature Park, by 3-5 meters, destroying habitats. The projected views from various vantage points also played down its visual impact.
I will be making a submission on the scheme, focussing on the following points:
Poolbeg Scheme- Densities, Height and Overshadowing
15-storey heights and much more dense plot-ratios than in the Dublin City Development Plan, with little public or private open space, will ruin the visual amenity of Dublin Bay. Also, if the accommodation is unattractive, there is the risk of ghettoisation. The tall blocks right to the edge of Sean Moore Rd will cause severe winter overshadowing to residents opposite in the Bremen Grove area.
Development virtually up to high-tide mark
The walkway and beach along ‘The Causeway’, (edge of Sandymount Strand), towards Irishtown Nature Park will be overlooked. How could families sit on the beach here with apartment blocks and commercial activity just behind them, with no barrier?
The berms (grassy banks) should be kept, and any development well set back from the existing public open space bordering Sandymount Strand, to conserve the lovely natural recreational amenity on our doorstep that we all value. I asked the DDDA for a local conservation plan for the Brent Geese, and this has not been done.
Flooding Risk
I also cannot see how this plan can be made without a professional assessment of how development at Poolbeg exacerbates flooding in Ringsend and Sandymount, and how to avoid it.
Vested Interests are driving Poolbeg Development, not Public Interest
I support higher urban densities for viable public transport, and I oppose suburban sprawl, but we must get this planning scheme right. I personally think that we should look at winding down the DDDA and placing it under Dublin City Council, and that the same planning and consultation standards should apply in the Docklands areas as in the rest of Dublin.
We have to get this planning scheme right!