Kildare County Council has been warned that a plan to build almost 400 houses in the vicinity of one of Ireland's most unusual buildings, the Wonderful Barn, near Leixlip, would be "disastrous".
The Hon Desmond Guinness, former president of the Irish Georgian Society, said land surrounding the barn, which was built in 1743, "should be kept free of housing development" to protect its setting.
He said the barn, with its curious conical shape and helter-skelter stone stairs, had been built as part of the Castletown House estate and was "widely admired by connoisseurs of 18th-century European architecture".
The 90-acre site, just north of the M4 motorway, was first proposed for rezoning in the mid-1990s and finally zoned for housing when the county council adopted a local area plan for Leixlip in March 2002.
Mr Charlie Talbot, the Kildare county secretary, said housing was "not a significant issue" at the time. Many people "didn't avail of the opportunity" to comment on an area action plan for the Wonderful Barn site.
He said the period for making submissions on the action plan had been extended to Friday, December 5th, "because we're committed to open government in Kildare County Council".
Under the action plan, prepared by Murray O'Laoire Architects and other consultants, 48 acres of the site would be dedicated as parkland and the remaining 42 acres developed for low- to medium-density housing.
A consortium of landowners headed by Mr Patrick Conlon was "centrally involved in the development of an appropriate planning scheme for the area", which would preserve a vista of the barn from Castletown House.
Subject to a legal agreement with Mr Conlon and the other owners, the barn complex, including Barnhall House, two dovecotes, a walled garden and the remaining parkland would be transferred to the county council.
"The future uses permitted within this complex of buildings may be a mixture of commercial and community-based ventures with public accessibility a priority," according to the plan. One possibility would be a heritage centre.
A landscape plan by Mitchell and Associates would plant trees to screen the new housing from the historic buildings as well as restoring the walled garden, retaining trees and hedgerows and creating a wildflower garden.
The housing layout was designed to protect key views, notably from Castletown House, Celbridge Road and existing residential areas to the north. New houses would be two storeys, though some might be three.
Calling the plan "a shame" in his letter of objection, Mr Guinness said Castletown "already suffers from rubbish-dumping, burnt-out cars, drinking parties with cans and bottles left behind and trees being destroyed by fires lit in their roots".
The area plan is on display at the library in Maynooth, the credit union in Leixlip and at the county council's offices in Naas. It is also on the council's website, www.kildare.ie
