Delivered
free to over 30,000 houses in Dublin 15
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| Delivered
free to over 30,000 houses in Dublin 15 |
| Why
we should rezone Kellystown Over the years Community Voice has reported on the rapid growth in the number of children needing primary school places. Behind these headlines the numbers are amazing. Between 2000 and 2005 the number of junior infants in Dublin 15 increased by 50% and this has continued to increase year on year. When
you count up the numbers in primary school, we will need four new (1,000
pupil) second level schools in Dublin 15 to meet this increase –
the problem is that we have only 2 sites reserved. The current situation for children in 6th class in the Castleknock Community College (CCC) catchment area is that there are 11 classes of children moving from primary to post primary schools this year. CCC can take 7 classes; the remainder go to private schools or travel outside the area. Next year (today’s 5th class) there will be 13 classes of children moving from primary to post primary schools and 60 children will not find places locally. Each year the situation will get worse with 150 children (today’s 4th class) unable to find places. In total 1,200 children currently in primary schools in the catchment area will not get a place in local post primary schools. The ripple effect of this crisis will affect schools throughout Dublin 15. As most enrolment policies give preference to siblings, this will lead to a shortage of places everywhere in future years. The proposed Kellystown variation is an attempt to address this problem. Three years ago, I led the campaign to oppose the original Kellystown re-zoning. This campaign was successful because there were no plans for transport or educational infrastructure. Since then, the Transport 21 plans were announced. This provided funding and a timetable for an upgrade of the Maynooth line to DART standard and the development of Metro West (a line which will do for rail users what the M50 did for road users – today, nobody has to drive into Dublin city centre to get to the far side). The interchange between these 2 proposed high capacity rail lines is less than 100 feet from Kellystown. In planning terms it is not a question of will Kellystown be re-zoned, but when will it be re-zoned. Opponents of this variation suggest making a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the school. However as a contested CPO for a footpath can take 5 years to go through, a 10 acre CPO will go all the way to the Supreme Court, with no guarantee of a site at the end of the process. The current greenbelt that exists at Kellystown is merely a zoning objective. The public has no access to these lands and they are in private ownership. The Kellystown variation will allow for the creation of a genuine greenbelt owned and controlled by Fingal County Council stretching from the new playing pitches at Beech Park, beyond Clonsilla, through Kellystown Park, Porterstown Park and onto the council-owned Castleknock Hurling and Football Grounds at Somerton. For the first time we will have a genuine and permanent greenbelt separating Castleknock and Clonsilla from the Liffey Valley. Kellystown is a good deal, not just to resolve an urgent schools crisis, but also for the additional playing fields and a real green belt between Dublin 15 and the Liffey Valley. Kieran O’Neill is Chairperson of the Castleknock Schools (lobby) Group and a former Chairperson of the Dublin 15 Community Council.
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