Development Plans currently being drafted by the Dublin's four councils maybe affected by local elections, but it is still possible to see where major growth will take place, writes Tim O'Brien, Regional Development Correspondent.

Baldoyle and Pelletstown on the north fringes of Dublin city, Donabate and Balbriggan in the north county, Shankill and Ballycullen on the southside and Adamstown in the west are all areas earmarked for large scale housing in Dublin over the next five years.

Leaving aside urban sprawl into neighbouring counties,Dublin is a city and county where the four local authorities are seeking to consolidate growth.

That means sustainable development, development that doesn't waste the fine resource which is land. And that means higher density development in the centre of towns, close to amenities, where serviced land is available and public transport, shops, schools and leisure facilities, like cinemas, are in place.

That was the argument put to councillors in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown by the manager, Mr Derek Brady, when he proposed to rezone the 78-acre Dún Laoghaire golf course for a mix of housing, open space, employment facilities and a neighbourhood centre.

Dún Laoghaire town centre is one of the few areas of the east coast where population is poised for decline - largely because there are not enough new smaller homes on the market.

Almost inexplicibly the councillors also rejected a plan for development of student accommodation on the 10 -acre former Irish Glass Bottle site at Clonskeagh/ Goatstown at the back gate of UCD. The site was sold by former employees of the Glass Bottle company and a plan for 1,000 student flats is currently before Bord Pleanala. It is hard to imagine where the councillors think students should live, if they can't live here.

So where did the councillors envisage that people would live? Well, a large tract of about 50 acres in Shankill, known as the Cochrane lands, are to be rezoned for housing. This is about equidistant from Bray and Shankill DART Stations. It is also close to the N/M11 motorway and bus routes.

Across the M11 are lands belonging to the county council itself, adjacent to St Gerard's School in Bray, which between them will provide about 60 acres of land for housing in the plan. St Gerard's has, controversially, tried in the last two development plans to have its land rezoned, but looks like being successful this time around.

Nearby, between St Gerard's and the village of Enniskerry, the Cosgrave brothers have amassed a huge site of more than 700 acres about which they have been lobbying the council for some time. The company's holdings are both sides of the Ballyman Road, putting part of its holding in Co Wicklow, where the company has also been lobbying.

Also straddling the borders of Wicklow and Dublin is the 57-acre site of the former Bray Golf Club, which along with the former Industrial Yarns site was put together by the builder Eddie O'Dwyer. This site, which extends into the centre of Bray, is already approved for major commercial, residential and leisure development but is now back with the planners as submissions have been made that the densities should also allow for apartments. The redevelopment of Dundrum town centre and around Ballinteer continues while major development in a number of seven storey blocks of apartments is planned for outside the M50 ring at Ballycullen/ Woodtown.

Councillors voted to knock Cherrywood back from a proposed "major" centre to "district centre" leaving it on a par with Stillorgan and Blackrock, but not as big as Dundrum or Dún Laoghaire. Luas is still awaited here - the first tram is due about two years after the Sandyford line opens next June.

According to Dublin City Council, the city centre was, in olden times, based around Christ Church, then around Dublin Castle before focusing around Trinity College and latterly going on the move again eastwards, towards the IFSC and Ringsend. Two new bridges - one pedestrian - are planned to link the south and north sides of the Liffey with Spencer Dock, where 3,000 new homes are being built. This will create a new north/south axis from the finanical services centre, across the river via Sandwith Street/Pearse Street to Government buildings and Merrion Square, opening up new commercial and redevelopment opportunities.

About 2,500 homes are planned for the city's north fringe around Baldoyle, and up to 5,000 new homes will be provided in Pelletstown, while about 2,500 units will be built on the adjacent Phoenix Park racecourse.

While the Fingal Development Plan identifies Balbriggan as a strategic growth centre on the Dublin/Belfast economic corridor, some 8,000 new homes are planned for Balgriffin.

Transport facilities have been improved and the opening of the M1 motorway suggests that the population of Donabate and Portrane could more than treble within a decade. Almost 400 acres of land surrounding Donabate has been put forward. Fingal County Council said it wants to update the existing zonings and consolidate the village centre in Donabate. While growth is limited by the capacity of the local sewage treatment plant, "this doesn't mean we shouldn't look at sensible development of the plan", said David O'Connor, head of services.

Meanwhile at Adamstown, in west Dublin, An Bord Pleanála has approved the creation of the state's first housing Strategic Development Zone, on the border of Kildare, near Lucan. The zone will guarantee the phased delivery of 10,000 new homes as well as a new town and village centres, schools, parks, roads, QBCs and a railway station. The 550-acre site is about 10 miles from Dublin city centre.

There are to be 13 phases of house-building, each phase dependent on a level of infrastructure being in place before housing can proceed.

Meanwhile An Bord Pleanála's ruling in the long-running Quarryvale v Balgaddy saga is that Balgaddy is, after all, a "generally suitable" site on which to develop the Lucan-Clondalkin town centre. All four Dublin local authorities' development plans are due for adoption at various stages in 2004.