The High Court has rejected an attempt to prevent four acres of land in Sandyford being rezoned for residential use.
Mr Justice McKechnie yesterday dismissed a challenge by Sandyford Environmental Planning and Road Safety Group Ltd and the Road Safety Group Limited to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council's variation of the County Development Plan.
The variation in question involved the rezoning of four acres at Blackglen Road from open space to residential use and the deletion of a long-term roads proposal.
Mr Michael Gough, the council's director of services, had said the variation had arisen because there were 2,400 families on the council's housing list and about 500 were specifically seeking housing in the area of the Blackglen road site. The cost of replacing the site would be between €5-6 million. It was unlikely the council would be in a position to include affordable houses on any replacement site, he added.
Mr Dudley Dolan, a university lecturer, of Blackglen Court, Sandyford, a director of the residents' company, said in an affidavit that the site was beside Fitzsimons Woods, a proposed natural heritage area of considerable ecological interest.
The residents had argued there was a failure on the part of the council to give reasons in published notices for the variation in the development plan.
The council denied its published notices failed to state adequately the reason for the variation.