Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady has said that the acquisition by Cairn Homes of the 113-hectare site located at old Fassaroe that had been owned by the Cosgrave family provides an opportunity to prioritise and develop the North Wicklow Sports Campus and commence the plans to extent the LUAS to Wicklow.
Deputy Brady said “Cosgrave Property Group has owned the 280-acre site at Fassaroe for many years now. The entire site has capacity for 2,500 homes. An application for 650 apartments and houses and a crèche was lodged as a strategic housing development (SHD) with An Bord Pleanála over 2 years ago.
“I have long campaigned for a sports campus in North Wicklow to cater for the current and quickly expanding recreational needs of the community. Old Fassaroe is an ideal location for this campus, in 2020 Repucon Consultants working for the council presented members of the council several options for the campus at Fassaroe. Whilst this was a welcome step, plans to develop the campus were not included in the 2022 planning application to An Bord Pleanála by Cosgrave.
“I believe that the acquisition of the site by Cairn Homes provides the council an opportunity to engage with the new owners to prioritise the development of the sports campus.
“Furthermore, I also believe there is an opportunity with this acquisition to advance the plans to extend the LUAS to North Wicklow. Although the expansion of the LUAS to Bray hasn’t been included by the Government in the National Development Plan which runs to 2030, there is preparatory work that can be done, and this acquisition provides an opportunity for that to happen.
“I will be meeting with the National Transport Authority (NTA) to ask them to seize this opportunity to advance the proposal to bring the LUAS to Wicklow.
“The 113-hectare site that has been acquired by Cairn Homes from Cosgrave Property Group at Fassaroe and the 161-acre site that has recently been put on the market by Roadstone Holding which is adjacent to the Cairn Homes site provides us with a once in a lifetime opportunity to get things right when it comes to planning.
“It is critically important that as this huge landbank is developed over the coming years that public transport, services and amenities are frontloaded. It is estimated that the two sites could cater for more than 4000 new households, so it’s critical that planners, the NTA and other agencies engage immediately with Cairn Homes and the future owners of the Roadstone site to give priority to these issues.