Fingal County Council are aiming to deliver between 500 and 600 units on the land between Swords Community College and Cianlea, over two phases.
The first phase, as previously reported, is aiming for between 200 and 300 units and could be brought to council under new fast-track legislation in the next two months.
The council currently have designers working on a masterplan for phase 1 and further details will emerge soon as a briefing to local councillors will likely happen before it is brought to full council in April or May.
The fast-track legislation that the council are bring this under is Section 179A of the Planning & Development Act. This is legislation designed to speed up the delivery of social, affordable, and cost rental housing and it applies to all council housing applications until the end of the year.
The major drawback, compared to the ‘Part 8’ process, is that it doesn’t include as much public consultation. It only allows six weeks under which time people can take a case to the High Court.
Cllr Ian Carey said:
“It is good to see the council moving forward with ambitious plans for the site, especially as the site has been zoned for so long without any movement on it. We are in a housing crisis and we need to move quickly to help people badly in need of homes.
“My concerns would be that the area remain as true as possible to the expired Local Area Plan, which included two parks and strong connectivity thorugh the area. I would also like to see a mixed tenure type used as it is a substantial site. A good mix of social, affordable, cost rental, and purchase would give everyone in the community an opportunity to avail of housing there.”