{"id":387699,"date":"2026-04-08T07:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/387699\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T07:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:23:07","slug":"dun-laoghaire-rathdown-councillors-urged-to-back-housing-plan-for-golf-lands-despite-local-opposition-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/387699\/","title":{"rendered":"D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown councillors urged to back housing plan for golf lands despite local opposition \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The chief executive of D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council<\/a> is asking councillors to support the redesignation of south Dublin golf facilities for future housing despite strident opposition from locals and the owner of the lands.<\/p>\n

Councillors will next week vote on amendments to the county development plan to increase the amount of land available for housing. It follows an edict last summer from Minister for Housing James Browne<\/a> that local authorities must rezone significant additional land to help tackle the housing crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lands identified for rezoning are primarily in the growth areas of Sandyford<\/a> and between Shankill<\/a> and Bray<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the council also identified \u201clong-term strategic and sustainable settlement sites\u201d that it does not plan to rezone immediately, but \u201cmay deliver housing\u201d in the future. These are currently greenbelt, agricultural or amenity lands in the south of the county close to the Dublin<\/a> mountains in areas such as Rathmichael<\/a>, Carrickmines<\/a>, Kilternan<\/a> and Stepaside<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Lands at the Stepaside Golf Centre have been included in this category. More than 700 submissions were made to the council on all changes to the development plan, but some 60 per cent were objections to potential future housing at the Stepaside golf facilities.<\/p>\n

Some locals branded the proposals as \u201cshameful\u201d and an \u201coutrage\u201d, with others saying they show an \u201cabhorrent disregard\u201d for local amenities and would \u201cdestroy the very fabric of the area\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rosa Roe, owner of Stepaside Golf Centre, a 40-bay driving range and 18-hole par-three course, is urging councillors not to vote for the redesignation of her lands. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are just asking for them not to change it,\u201d she said. \u201cMy family and I have been running this golf amenity for almost 30 years and I have no intention of giving up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council chief executive Frank Curran\u2019s report on the public consultation notes \u201cthe many issues raised\u201d in relation to the Stepaside golf facilities, but says the lands are \u201cnot being put forward for rezoning as part of the proposed variation\u201d to the development plan. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the lands are identified as long-term strategic sites this does not confer any future zoning status,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Curran will ask councillors to go ahead with the change next week.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018How dare you\u2019: South Dublin residents vent at plan to redesignate golf amenities for housingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Roe said she understood the lands would not be earmarked for rezoning but said \u201cit\u2019s a step towards it\u201d and that her land would come under increasing pressure. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the councillors vote for this change from green belt [to long-term strategic sites] I would be worried rezoning is going to happen, and happen fairly quickly,\u201d she said. \u201cI would just ask that they come and look at what the course is like and see the rural area it\u2019s in, so they know what they\u2019re voting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the submissions, a petition organised by Roe and her family, supported by more than 1,100 customers of the golf facility, has been sent to the council calling for it to drop the proposal.<\/p>\n

Submissions on the development plan, previously reported by The Irish Times<\/a>, indicated vehement local opposition to the redesignation of the golf facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an outrage that these would even be considered,\u201d one resident said. \u201cHow dare you try and destroy the very fabric of the area and what makes the area unique. This is in complete contradiction to the wishes of the local people.<\/p>\n

\u201cStepaside used to be referred to as \u2018the countryside of Dublin\u2019. It is now becoming a concrete jungle thanks to the lack of thoughtful planning by this council.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stepaside is \u201covercrowded\u201d, one couple said. \u201cThe infrastructure is creaking and the countryside has been ruined. Enough building in this area. The people in the area need to have amenities and green space. No more houses, apartments, flats.\u201d It was, they said, \u201cabsolutely criminal that our amenities are a target for rezoning\u201d.<\/p>\n

One man said that, unless the proposal was dropped, he would not vote for any of the current councillors. \u201cI\u2019ll instruct my wife and kids not to also.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow dare you try to turn this area into nothing but housing estates against the will of local people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The chief executive of D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is asking councillors to support the redesignation of south Dublin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5981,42855,615,16089,12842,3662,11596,61,60,133716,43,172220,69796,172219,35245],"class_list":{"0":"post-387699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-bray","9":"tag-carrickmines","10":"tag-dublin","11":"tag-dun-laoghaire","12":"tag-dun-laoghaire-rathdown-county-council","13":"tag-housing-crisis","14":"tag-housing-demand","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-kilternan","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-rathmichael","20":"tag-sandyford","21":"tag-shankill","22":"tag-stepaside"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}