The European Parliament Petitions Committee has been called on to investigate Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown County Council on its record of environmental assessment of new projects in the Sandyford Industrial Estate.
The estate has attracted a large number of high-density and high-rise planning applications in the last three years, following its rezoning from light industrial to mixed use.
By 2015, it is estimated that more than 10,000 housing units will be contained in the estate and the projected population will be 20,000.
Following queries from An Bord Pleanála on the future of the estate in 2006, a draft urban framework plan was developed by the council.
However, locals have opposed the plan as inadequate, saying it does not include an environmental impact study of the local effects of the development and will allow for inappropriate multiple high-rise buildings.
They say there are major deficiencies in social infrastructure, road network and public transport in the estate, which the urban plan does not adequately address, and have called for a statutory local area plan to be produced instead.
Former PD councillor and local activist, Barry Saul, has written to the European Parliament Petitions Committee and asked them to investigate the council's compliance with European directives in relation to environmental impact assessments and noise and air pollution for the Sandyford Industrial Estate.
He has challenged the concept of an urban framework plan, saying that there are no references to it in Irish planning and development laws.
"It is my strong opinion that the concept of an urban framework plan is being used to circumvent the statutory requirements for providing a strategic environmental assessment as with local area plans," he said.
"The council has allowed for piecemeal developments to be granted without taking into consideration the cumulative effects of noise and air pollution on the local residents, in particular Stillorgan Heath, Lakelands, Moreen and Woodford," he said.
A new organisation, the Sandyford Action Group, is to hold a meeting this Thursday to discuss the issues and to lobby for the production of a local area plan.
