Killiney Golf Club has been told by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that it must “cease all works” in a protected area of ecological, scientific and geological importance at Rocheshill, Killiney.
The council was responding to a complaint from Prof PJ Drudy, of Trinity College, that part of the south Co Dublin site had been destroyed by the golf club in the course of clearing a drain that had been flooding one of its fairways.
Prof Drudy was told by the council’s planning enforcement section that the works carried out by the golf club “are of such a substantial nature that they represent development which would require planning permission at this location”.
Remedy
This followed an assessment by the council’s planning department of the site and the clearance and excavation work undertaken there. As a result, the club was required to “cease all works and respond with their intentions to remedy the situation”.
Prof Drudy noted that both the council and An Bord Pleanála had refused planning permission in 1996 for a scheme to extend the golf club on to Rocheshill. A further encroachment into the protected area in 2001 was also halted by the council.
The reason given for refusing permission was that Rocheshill had been designated as a site of scientific interest and the proposed development “would have an adverse impact on the ecology of the area” as well as interfering with rights of way.
Referring to the latest work, Prof Drudy said: “By any stretch of the imagination, few would argue that this was necessary to clean out a drain.”
Killiney Golf Club secretary Michael Walsh said the clearance work affected an area about 50m wide that was within its ownership. Asked if this was part of the protected zone, he said: “I’m not sure whether it is or not – it belongs to the club.”
Persistent problem
He said there had been a persistent problem of “water coming off Rocheshill, particularly in the last month, and cascading on to the fourth fairway. What we did was to clear out a drain, taking away loose vegetation which will grow back.”
The council’s draft management plan notes that Rocheshill contains “habitats and species of plants and animals and sites of national conservation importance”. It is also part of a proposed natural heritage area to be protected by a special amenity area order.
In the 1980s, 24 acres of scrubland on the hill were bought by XJS Investments Ltd with a view to developing it for housing. After this was rejected, XJS sought £2 million (€2.54 million) in compensation.
The council paid £150,000 and a further £70,000 to acquire 21 acres of the site. The golf club bought the remaining three acres.
