Lower Bishopscourt Residents Association

MOTIONS 8.4, 8.5, 8.6

Dear Councillor

We write in respect of motion 8.4 on the agenda of An Chomhairle tonight. While the Decision of the Committee to recommend alteration of Policy NHR 11 would be of benefit , it will not, under the terms of the motion, be effective until the adoption of the new City Development Plan.
By that time the purchaser of the house on Bishopscourt Green (sale completed last Friday) will have applied for Planning Permission to build on the Green, been rejected by the City Planners (as we advocate), the Councillors having no say in the matter, and will have been appealed to An Bord Pleanana.
The recommendation of the Committee under Motions 8.5 and 8.6 is similarly ineffective until the adoption of the City Development Plan 2009-2015.
The present weakness of the policy NHR 11 will be exploited by this developer and others to our disadvantage in representations to An Bord Pleanana.

The wording of NHR 11 should be changed in the City Development Plan 2004 and brought before An Chomhairle as soon as possible in order to protect all greens from unwarranted development.

Bishopscourt Green has been sold for an undisclosed sum.

The Residents of Bishopscourt can only hope that the new owners have some sort of an environmental and social conscience and will preserve the Green space that has been a part of Bishopstown for over forty years.

Bishopstown is not lacking in shops or medical centres or apartments. What it is lacking is green spaces, mature trees, places for quiet reflection and birdsong.

Shame on Greed! Shame on John McCarthy, the son of the late Denis McCarthy for selling what did not need to be sold.

We can only wonder whether his father would clap him on the back and say, “well done son, what a deal, millions made”. Or would he be dismayed at the destruction of an intended amenity? Will John McCarthy be watching when the JCBs come to bulldose the trees his father planted on Bishopscourt’s Green?