A proposal to open up high amenity areas in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown for tourism development has been described as "extremely dangerous" by a former president of An Taisce.
Mr David Rowe said a change in the draft county development plan, proposed by the county manager, Mr Derek Brady, would put high amenity zones at risk of exploitation for commercial purposes. A new zoning category of "integrated tourism developments" may include a hotel and associated leisure, sport and business facilities.
Calling on councillors to resist the inclusion of "integrated tourism developments" as a permitted use, Mr Rowe said there were "sound reasons" for maintaining the present status of all high amenity zones. This was particularly true of a long-established green belt planning policy, in existence for the past 30 years, to protect the foothills of the Dublin-Wicklow Mountains from encroaching urban development.
Previous county plans had recognised the prime importance of maintaining the northern edge of the mountain zone as a backdrop to the city and as an accessible outdoor recreation area.
Mr Rowe warned that this policy was now at risk from a specific proposal to change the high amenity zoning with a view to facilitating a tourism, leisure and recreational complex at Ticknock, above Lamb Doyle's.
A company called Caspian Country Investments Ltd sought a change in zoning from high amenity to residential with a "specific local objective" for a hotel on a 60-acre site at Ticknock known as Jennings' land.
The proposed amendment to the draft county plan says consideration will be given to allowing uses not normally permissible in a high amenity area to facilitate an integrated tourism complex.
A new specific objective has also been proposed for such a development at Ticknock - on a site which Mr Rowe maintained was central to views of Three Rock Mountain from Dundrum, Ballinteer and Sandyford.
He queried why "these radical changes" were being introduced at a late stage in the review of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county plan in response to a single submission seeking the rezoning of land at Ticknock.
"The county manager and planners obviously recognised that rezoning would be too controversial, so the concept of the 'integrated tourism complex' was constructed as a means of achieving the same ends," he said.
"Instead of changing the zoning of a particular area, the manager is extending the potential uses of all high amenity areas. Effectively, he is inviting developers into the mountain areas."
A spokesman for the council said it had received a request to facilitate a resort spa hotel at Ticknock. "This was seen as a worthwhile proposal in the context of our policy to improve recreational facilities in high amenity areas," he said. In this case, if the zoning was approved, he said the planners would be insisting on the preservation of natural amenities and heritage structures on the site, as well as the retention of its open character with significant landscaping.
