It’s a go for 245 new homes west of Swords
| The first of a two-phase project to build almost 500 new homes west of Swords has been granted permission by Fingal County Council, clearing the way for 245 of those homes to be constructed.Gannon Properties has lodged two planning applications to build in the region of 500 houses on lands to the west of Swords, has now been granted planning permission on one of those applications, with the other one still being considered by planners.Gannon has won permission to build 245 dwellings and a 316m sq two-storey creche. The residential development comprises 104 four-bedroom houses, 113 threebedroom houses, 12 two-bedroom houses, eight threebedroom maisonettes and eight one-bedroom apartments in two and three storeys.
The development includes all associated site works and infrastructure, including landscaped open space, internal roads, paths, cycle paths, public lighting, utilities, drainage, surface water attenuation and a temporary emergency access road. The site lies just off the Glen Ellan road in the Oldtown townland of Swords. A second planning application for lands to the west of the initial proposal, seeking the construction of a further 224 units, has also been been lodged with the local authority.
Development of the Oldtown lands, as well as the adjacent Mooretown lands, has been earmarked by the council to eventually house up to 10,000 new residents in the longterm and it was the subject of a Local Area Plan (LAP). The site lies adjacent to the existing residential areas of Castle View and Ashton Broc. Permission has been given for the development despite some strong local objections to the project. Earlier this year, Deputy Clare Daly (SP) and Cllr. Eugene Coppinger (SP) objected to the plans. The Swords-based Socialist Party colleagues warned that the proposal by Gannon Properties just off the Glen Ellan Road in the Oldtown townland in west Swords was premature and should be considered holistically in terms of overall proposals for the entire site. In the objection, Deputy Daly said the zoning of these lands was very controversial, given the scale of development that took place in Swords during the boom. She said: ‘It is true that development slowed down over latter years, in part because of land banking. In the present economic climate, with the property marked being stagnant, it is inappropriate to consider a development of this scale.’ She said the Local Area Plan for the Oldtown-Mooretown was agreed against the backdrop of a future for Swords linked to the delivery of Metro North. Given the decision by the Government to defer the Metro, she said, any development in the area of this scale would be inappropriate. |