The Affordable Homes Partnership is trying to get the Brickfields site rezoned for housing. When they came to talk to the councillors in November at an informal meeting, I pointed out that their proposals would not be acceptable to local residents and suggested the go away and think things through more thoroughly, including
a) providing some of the badly needed community facilities for which the site is zoned,and
b) not drawing major traffic through existing residential areas.
They have asked to meet us again, but have clearly not taken our previous comments on board. My reply to the email asking for the meeting is below.
The letter referred to in the email is at www.davidhealy.com/home/davidhea/public_html/media/brickfield2.pdf
Dear Noeleen, fellow Councillors,
I take grave exception to the account of the last meeting in the letter from the AHP’s architects.
The letter is written as if the principle of rezoning this area of amenity-zoned land is accepted by the local Councillors. AHP and their architects know perfectly well that a proposed rezoning of this land was rejected by the Council in preparing the 2005 CDP. I pointed this history out at the meeting and in addition referred to the need for community facilities identified by the needs analysis jointly undertaken by local community organisations and the County Council.
The flaws in the presentation of the discussion include the following points which I made and which are not referred to:
This is amenity-zoned land and the public is entitled to expect amenities from it.
The height and design are unacceptable in proximity to existing houses
The proposed gated nature of the development is unacceptable.
There was no "question" as to the impact of a drop-off point for the station. The impact of such a road is clear from the other accesses to the station and the only access route is through existing estates.
There was no commitment by Councillors to bring anything to local residents – quite the reverse; I expressed the view that if they had intended to infuriate local residents they couldn’t have done much more to achieve it, and suggested they go back to the drawing board. I asked where this drop-off idea had come from and got no answer; indeed there seemed to be no design rationale for it.
I have for a while been questioning the practice of calling separate informal meetings in this manner and recommending that such issues and presentations should be part of the Area Committee meeting. I can see no reason to hold a separate meeting, to which presumably the public and press will not have a right of attendance, if only because they don’t know about the meeting. Whether intentional or not, this would be a circumvention of the right of public access in s45 of the Local Government Act 2001. I would be grateful if this matter could be included on the agenda of the Area Committee meeting.
I reserve my position in relation to other similar meetings but in relation to this proposal, I will not be attending any meeting to which the public does not have access lest my views be misrepresented again in this manner.
Regards,
David Healy
On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 10:49 AM, Noeleen McHugh <Noeleen.McHugh@fingalcoco.ie> wrote:
Dear Councillor,
Following discussions with Cllr. Maher a meeting has been arranged with the Affordable Homes Partnership regarding the Brickfields site at Bayside. The meeting will take place on 3rd April, 2008 at 2.30 p.m. at Baldoyle Library (30 minutes before the Area Committee Services A meeting). I attach, for your information, copy of correspondence received from Niall D. Brennan Associates after the last presentation to the Committee by the AHP in November.
Regards,
Noeleen McHugh,
A/Senior Executive Officer,
Planning Department.
Phone: 8905687
Fax: 8905789