Two-County Town Centre Plan Approved

A new town centre that straddles the border of counties Dublin and Wicklow has been approved by An Bord Pleanála.

According to a newspaper report, the €2 billion development will include 900 homes, a hotel, leisure facilities, offices, a cinema, bars and more than 100 new shops.

The Irish Time reported that a greatly improved road link to the M11, and a major Office of Public Works flood protection scheme for the river Dargle, will also be incorporated.

The 60,000 square metre development is also likely to require approval from Nama. Project backers have said that Nama was expected to take responsibility for loans associated with the scheme sometime this summer.

Two years ago, the planning board blocked development of the site because it said it would be "premature" pending the approval of the Bray flood defence scheme and pending a plan for the overall management of traffic in Bray.

Spokeswoman for the development, Mary McDermott Roe said she believed the project would go ahead, albeit possibly in a number of phases. She said the scale of other proposed developments in the area was not comparable to the Pizarro project, which had the benefit of transport links and town centre status. While loans associated with the project were expected to go to Nama as soon as this summer, she said Nama had the power to invest to realise the potential of the development.

Permission for the project was granted separately by Bray Town Council and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council more than two years ago with 348 new homes on the former Industrial Yarns property at the northern end of the site.

Bray Town Council approved commercial elements, a new bridge and a residential area of about 600 apartments.

(NS/GK)