Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We do not share Deputy Murphy's view that it is well gone and cannot be saved. We believe this is an opportunity to save the town centre and its core. This is why this land, as a key piece of town centre land, was zoned many years ago for much more increased development. That, however, is not what this is about. This is about trying to develop a plan that can support the town, the people who live around the town and new housing on the site. Other housing was proposed for the outskirts of the town, which we have moved. We are not inflicting more houses in Celbridge with the overall number of units. It is wrong to say that. We are looking for a better balance and we are looking to develop the core centre of the town.

I have seen areas where, as the Deputy said, retail units are on the edge of the town. That does not support the town centre. We are quite happy now, and I will write to Kildare County Council on this matter, to try to work with the council on developing this site on a proper, phased basis that will work with the existing commercial town centre to get the balance right. Some new custom will be developed for those businesses through the new housing right in the centre of the town where people want to live. People do not always want to drive a car constantly. They will have a choice, with the opportunity to live beside a town centre, and to avail of all the services including the fabulous lands around Castletown House and the new park that hopefully will be developed by Kildare County Council. The council owns the land and I urge the council to bring the development forward in a very sensitive way. There is an ideal opportunity to do this right. I have read the submissions of the owners of the Castletown House and I wish everyone else would read them also. We try to respond to all the needs here.

I accept that many of the residents have raised concerns and I believe that we have managed to address those issues. With regard to some of the issues they were concerned about, compared to some of the maps that show how bad it could have been years ago with previous owners, I believe this plan is appropriate and is right. It is my job to do that. The national planning guidelines are there not to be paid lip-service, but to be used and implemented where we believe it is right. I engage with local councils often, and they generally do a great job when it comes to planning. In some cases, they do not always get it right. In this case, we believe it was not aligned with national policies and we had to intervene to make changes. It is not a decision that is taken easily and that is the reason I spent a lot of time on this decision. I went there on numerous occasions and I walked the lands to be absolutely sure we were doing the right thing. I am happy to work with all parties to develop it, but I will be clear that this is a zoning application, not a planning application.

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