A huge housing project that spooked Wicklow clay pigeon shooters has been scuppered
Bray Clay Pigeon Club was among those fighting the 658-home development.
A MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT that would have seen the construction of more than 650 housing units in Wicklow has been denied planning permission.
Cosgrave Property Group, one of the largest development firms in the country, wanted to build the homes on a 48-hectare site in the Fassaroe and Monastery area between the towns of Bray and Enniskerry.
The project would have included 390 apartments and 268 houses and a ‘neighbourhood centre’ made up of a convenience store, six retail units, a creche, a park and a new pedestrian and cycle bridge.
Wicklow County Council gave permission for the project, which it said fit in with the council’s masterplan for up to 1,800 extra housing units to be built in north County Wicklow. However several parties appealed this decision to An Bord Pleanála.
Among those to appeal were local residents and the Bray Clay Pigeon Club, which is located near to where the proposed development would go ahead.
The club, which has for rented land in Fassaroe for 40 years and has 50 full-time members, claimed the Cosgrave group’s project would be “detrimental” to the organisation.
“A new and large residential development will be very problematic, if not terminal, for the club and the sport of clay target shooting in north Wicklow,” it said in the letter to the planning board.
It said that while the organisation had “thrived” in an area without much housing, if the Cosgrave development was to be built the new residents would likely object to the club’s noisy practice ground.
A clay pigeon shooter
Refused
In its decision An Bord Pleanála overruled Wicklow council, refusing permission for the development.
The planning body gave several reasons for its decision. One was due to the scale of the retail aspect of the project, which the board said was “significantly in excess of the needs of the proposed local residents”.
It said that this could have a negative impact on established retail areas, such as Bray town centre.
An Bord Pleanála also said that the housing development did not have sufficient access to public transport.
Due to this, and because of the project’s location, it was found that the residents would be too dependant on their cars to get around.
It also found that residents would not have access to important amenities, such as social and education facilities.
