DEVELOPERS OF the €300 million Greystones harbour project in Co Wicklow have agreed to open parts of the seafront area to the public.
The agreement, which follows discussions with harbour users and campaigners, will see access to the new south pier opened for the first time. In addition the high wooden hoardings which have surrounded the site for about three years are to be removed along the Cliff Road, from the south pier to a point opposite the Beach House pub.
Developers Sispar have already opened one slipway for local angling and boating clubs and a second slipway in the vicinity of the south pier is to be made available.
The developers are also planning to create a green area in the southern part of the harbour and provide a boat section for harbour users in the area where new clubhouses are proposed.
Construction of a proposed medical, office and retail centre, which is a revision of the original plan, is to get under way in September and according to Sispar is likely to be completed by September 2012.
Sispar said it intends to replace the hoardings with decorative railings which are currently being made. A spokesman for the consortium said that for the first time pedestrians would be able to walk along the new pier to the harbour mouth.
Locals would also have access to a beach and green area in the harbour. But he said it would not be possible to remove some of the other hoardings.
Campaign group Give Us Back Our Harbour has given a cautious welcome to some aspects of the plan but it is concerned the timescale envisaged for completion of the work is outside its preferred deadline of August 1st.
“Sispar’s plans will leave the area where it is proposed to build residential units as an unsightly building site. This is based on Sispar’s hope to start residential building in the near future. We believe, in the current economic climate, that this is unrealistic and we are very concerned that Greystones will be left with yet another boarded up site for years to come,” a spokesman for the group said.
The harbour project involved a public private partnership which saw Wicklow County Council compulsorily acquire land around the Victorian harbour, for development by its private sector partners John Sisk and Park Developments.
