This month, the city council are voting on a plan to rezone the engineering works at Inchicore and some other industrial properties in the area for housing as part of the city edge project. Below is my submission to their public consultation:

I am a resident of Inchicore Square and I welcome the provision of housing in the area, and in particular that it will be close to public transport, however, I have some concerns.

Inchicore was built around the engineering works of the Great Southern and Western Railway from the 1840s onwards when there was a need to provide housing for workers and their families, and so it is now fitting that the works themselves will be transformed into housing for a new generation.  The layout and design adopted at that time have meant that 175 years later we have a unique space to live in Dublin 8 where children can play safely on the streets at all times.  This is down to limited access for motor vehicles, and the fact that everything on 4 wheels must enter or exit the estate (along with a good proportion of the traffic from the current engineering works) through the former gate at the bottom of South Terrace where it meets Grattan Crescent.  There is also a pedestrian exit onto Sarsfield Road at “the wicked gate” outside 23-26 North Terrace, and an unofficial route through the engineering works exiting onto Railway Avenue, near the junction with O’Donoghue Street.  This limited motor access with pedestrian and cycle permeability is part of the secret sauce which helps to maintain the unique environment.   It should be a key aim of this project that it can extend the benefits to a greater number of people, without buldozing through existing communities.

To this end I support the submissions made by my neighbours

I would also like to add the suggestions below:

• Closing the motor vehicle exit from the current engineering works onto Inchicore Parade, and definitely no motor access onto the tiny lane behind Abercorn Terrace
• Changing the shape of the area marked 7A at the former filter beds and car park to the west of the (listed) CIE Sports and Social Club building by turning the current soccer pitch around by an angle of 45 degrees, and leaving a triangular open space between George’s Villas and the terrace at 1-10 West Terrace.
• Making the above soccer pitch and it’s surrounding open to the local community, both by replacing the walls with gated railings.
• This would allow an amended area 7A immediately behind the CIE Sports and Social Club to include sheltered or step-down smaller scale housing aimed at locals downsizing which is in keeping with the heritage of the estate and the nearby listed building.
• More green space in the development as a whole, and the inclusion of appropriate space for education (as outlined in other submissions)
• Provision to keep the “Khyber Pass” bridge open and accessible for pedestrians and cyclists through the site from Railway Avenue and across the bridge to access East Timor Park on Con Colbert Road and onwards to the Memorial Park and Phoenix Park.
• Provision for safe and peaceful pedestrian and cycle route from the existing CIE works estate to access the new railway station at Kylemore.