Over a single generation, Donabate has grown from a village of 1,100 in 1991 to a town of 9,600 in the 2022 census. Our social infrastructure is hardly coping with our current population. Schools and crèches are full, with recently arrived residents seeking places in Swords. It is increasingly difficult to find venues for new weekly activities and for one-off meetings and events. The proposed extension to the Community Centre will barely satisfy the demand of the existing population. The Tilberry site, 5 hectares owned by FCC on the northern side of New Road about 600 metres from the Town Centre, is the ideal location for an Arts Youth and Community Cultural Centre, school, crèche and affordable and “right-sized” housing, meeting future needs on several fronts. The lack of employment locally results in over-crowded public transportation and commuters turning to cars. With several large planning permissions in the pipeline, the past pace of expansion is set to continue and, unless serious action is taking to address the deficit, the situation is likely to worsen.
Recently, Fingal County Council (FCC) granted permission for 1,020 dwellings at Corballis East. While we appreciate the need for housing, not just for Donabate, but for the greater Dublin area, this decision, unfortunately, is a backward step regarding good planning. It breaches FCC’s own Development Plan and the Donabate Local Area Plan (LAP), which would have allowed for 900 houses on this site. It also fails to address the current and future need for social infrastructure and local employment. The reserved school site in Corballis East is only large enough for a 16-classroom school, but the projected population of this single permission will fill this, with no spare capacity for other planned developments in Corballis. Crèche provision is 35 places below the minimum standard. The developer’s response to the Development Plan objective that “large scale residential developments include a community facility” is a so-called “multi-purpose community use unit” with a measly odd-shaped floor area of 91m 2 , less than the area of a 3-bedrom house. Areas of public open space and back gardens fall short of the Development Plan standards. The developer has counted all 51 single-bedroomed sheltered housing units as both age-friendly and social housing to satisfy two separate requirements of the Development Plan.
The permission granted by FCC also doesn’t follow the LAP’s aspirations regarding number of dwellings, density, dwelling types and building heights. About 900 dwellings should be permitted on this site at the LAP’s target density of 35 units per hectare, not 1,020 at 40 per hectare. The LAP says that most of the dwellings here will be “two storeys in height” and that “family homes will be the primary housing form…(rather than)…apartments and other multi-occupancy units” but less than half are houses and 4 of every 7 dwellings are in buildings of three to five storeys. While FCC’s work in our area is appreciated, e.g. Newbridge Park is second to none and the new Donabate Framework Plan brings new exciting opportunities, it is regrettable that in this instance, FCC has not followed its own policy documents. The Development Plan and the LAP included hard-fought safeguards after extensive community consultation, which have now not been followed. Will our community be willing to engage in future Development Plans and LAPs?
Breda Dockrell (M.Sc. in Recreation Mgt.) and Jim O’Donohoe (B. Arch) former Planning Officers on Donabate Portrane Community Council