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Please find below the fold a letter myself and Cllr. Eithne Loftus sent to An Bord Pleanala in support of the Deerpark Residents’ Association appeal against Fingal Council decision to grant planning permission to a further development at the former Phoenix Park Racecourse.

The Secretary
An Bord Pleanala
Marlborough Street
Dublin 1

Saturday, 29th August 2009

Re: THIRD PARTY APPEAL RE FORMER PHOENIX PARK RACECOURSE REFERENCE NUMBER: F08A/1292

Dear Sir/Madam

We are writing to support the third party appeal made by the Deerpark Area Residents’ Association against the decision of Fingal County Council to grant planning permission for the above referenced development.

We are asking An Bord Pleanala to refuse this development on the following grounds:

• The proposed development contravenes the Action Area Plan (AAP) for the former Phoenix Park Racecourse by permitting building heights of greater than 4-5 storeys in this location. The council’s Planning Department has agreed with the developer a Masterplan for the former racecourse site.

However, this ‘masterplan’ was not adopted or approved by the elected members. The use of ‘masterplans’ and ‘urban strategies’ hatched between council officials and developers is tactic regularly used by Fingal’s Planner to subvert the democratic process and exclude the local community from the planning process. It should not be tolerated. The provisions of the Action Area Plan should stand pending the adoption of a Local Area Plan (LAP) by the council.

• There is considerable concern about the proximity to houses in Deerpark of the access road for the large retail unit. Residents are concerned at the disturbance that will be caused by heavy goods vehicles delivering goods to the retail units in the early morning and at night. The road should be relocated deeper into the development.

• The council ignored the submission of the National Roads Authority which called on them to refuse permission due to impact that the development on this section of the N3

• The Inspector and Bord Members should be aware that proposals to upgrade train services to Phoenix Park Station have been deferred. The initial deadline for the upgrading of this train-line to DART standard and capacity was 2006, it have since been stretched to 2015. No responsible can have confidence that this date will be met.

• The proposed development contravenes the Sustainable Urban Housing Design Guidelines, September 2007. Moreover, Separation distances in the proposed scheme do not meet minimum requirements.

• The under-provision in car-parking spaces will injure the amenities of future residents and may lead to traffic hazard in the Deerpark Estate. This situation will be exacerbated further if the proposed pedestrian link to the Deerpark Estate is permitted. This should be addressed by a condition requiring the developer to wall off the open space at Deerpark from the development lands.

We trust that the Board will study this appeal in detail before coming to a decision.

Yours faithfully,

Leo Varadkar TD Cllr Eithne Loftus