DUN Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is ignoring public opinion following the recent adoption of its original proposals for a coastal enhancement scheme as an objective of the county development plan.
In February 2008, the council announced two different concepts for the development of the East Pier to Sandycove Enhancement Scheme, which includes the Dún Laoghaire Baths site.
The proposals drawn up on behalf of the council by consultants estimated the cost of Concept A at €129m and Concept B at €92m. The local authority has since revealed that it spent over €200,000 paying the consultants to design the plans.
But in a subsequent report, a baths sub committee recommended a more modest scheme, including the retention of the existing baths building with a modern extension. In the report on the scheme’s public consultation process, the baths sub committee noted that submisisons on the proposals from the public did not support either concept “in their totality”. The report noted that members of the public also raised serious concerns regarding the proposed cost of the two concepts and the ability of the council to fund development on the scale envisaged. But at a special meeting of the council recently, a majority of councillors voted to adopt the East Pier to Sandycove Enhancement Scheme as a special local objective of the county development plan 2010-2016.
Richard Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit Alliance questioned why the county manager was trying to reinsert what he termed a “crazy” plan against the wishes of the public.
However, the council said it was “satisfied that the specific local objective contained in the Draft Development Plan 2010 – 2016 is entirely consistent with the report of the baths sub-committee.”
