Dublin City Council is set to defend the "de-zoning" of residential land in Raheny despite Chief Executive Owen Keegan advising against the move during the drafting of the city's Development Plan.
The 17-acre site beside St Anne's Park in Raheny features a number of playing pitches and had been the subject of planning applications for 580 apartments and a 100 bed nursing home on the site. Councillors from the North Central Area Committee argued the site should be zoned for open use to protect the pitches and light bellied brent geese that migrate to the area in a motion to the Development Plan.
Councillors voted to zone the land for open space last November which ruled out any housing developments. Developer Pat Crean, who's development company Marlet owns the site and planned to develop housing on it, threatened to sue DCC over the motion to re-zone the land.
