Developers concede public right of way on Wicklow golf club site

Three brothers have agreed in court that there is a public right of way across a 300-acre site earmarked as the new home for …

Three brothers have agreed in court that there is a public right of way across a 300-acre site earmarked as the new home for Dún Laoghaire Golf Club at Ballyman, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, settling a dispute about the matter.

Judge Alison Lindsay had heard that developers Joseph, Peter and Michael Cosgrave had bought the Ballyman farm from John Heatley Leeson to develop it as the new 27-hole golf complex for the Dún Laoghaire Golf club.

Carol O'Farrell, counsel for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, told the court the dispute over the right of way had been settled and that the Cosgraves had agreed to the court making a declaration that there was a public right of way on the lands.

She said the right of way runs along the periphery of the golf course development and did not impinge on any of the golf holes within the new layout.

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Ms O'Farrell told the court the Cosgraves now conceded there was a public right of way from Ballyman Road over their lands through Glenmunder and the grounds of Phrompstown House to the Glenmunder Stream and from the Glenmunder Stream to Ballyman Road.

Judge Lindsay granted the order and also made a consent order for the legal costs of the county council.

Joseph Cosgrave, Eblana Villas, Dublin, had earlier told the court in a sworn affidavit that he and his brothers were appealing against a resolution of the members of the local authority to include the right of way.

He said he had obtained planning permission for a 27-hole golf course, clubhouse, driving range and ancillary developments and in May 2003 the council had told Mr Leeson, the then registered owner of the land, of its intention to include the right of way in its County Development Plan.

In June 2003, solicitors for the Cosgraves had informed the council that no such right of way existed and notified it of their attention to appeal against this provision in the development plan.