‘Golden opportunity for the council’: Locals oppose rezoning of open space in Clondalkin

Residents and politicians have appealed to South Dublin County Council (SDCC) to keep land owned by the “Coldcut Club” zoned as open space in advance of a meeting to change the local development plan.However, among those who made submissions to the council was Sligo-based developer Beldare Homes, which urged the planning authority to proceed with the rezoning of the site for housing.The land in Clondalkin has housed sporting facilities for decades, including grass and AstroTurf pitches for football and GAA as well as a pitch-and-putt course.“Why would you get rid of sporting facilities when you should be enhancing them?” asked local resident Patrick Healy. He called for the land to be used for sporting and community uses.READ MORE“Once open green space is lost to development, it can never be replaced,” one local, Miriam Keegan, said, objecting to the plans. She said the land offered a “unique opportunity to provide a lasting benefit to the local community” and had “enormous potential” for sports clubs and the community.Phelim Seery, a local resident and Coldcut member, called on the council to execute a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on the property he said “has been recreational land since 1967”, describing it as a “knee-jerk reaction to the housing crisis”.“I understand that we do need more housing, but at what cost? For all the development going on Clondalkin, we need more recreational land,” he said. “This would be a golden opportunity for the council to buy this for the community.”Several local politicians made submissions to the council, including councillors Helen Farrell, Gino Kenny, Francis Timmons and Madeleine Johansson.The land has been agreed to be sold to Beldare Homes for €5.3 million as part of a blind-tender auction, according to sources with knowledge of the club’s workings.Planning consultancy Foundation Management – acting for Beldare Homes – said pleas for the land to remain as open space were “misplaced and opportunistic” as the land is currently “unused and overgrown”.Pointing to the need for the council to provide additional homes, Beldare said the rezoning would amount to a “significant planning gain [or] betterment over the current situation” and would help the authority reach its residential zoned targets.The former chief executive of Beldare Homes is Cathal O’Connor, who was jailed in July after pleading guilty in April to beating three 13-year-old boys in 2024 after finding them in a property he owned in a business park.A company partially owned by O’Connor, Coldcut Construction Ltd, was registered in 2021, before any sale process of the land began.The 10.82 hectares (26.79 acres) owned by the Dublin City Services Sports & Social Club, known as the Coldcut Club, have been widely used by sports teams.The Coldcut land was first listed as a potential site for rezoning to residential by the council in January, with part of the site a “preferred option for public consultation”. Up to 200 homes were anticipated to be built on the site.[ Plan to rezone land at south Dublin stately home for housing scrappedOpens in new window ]The rezoning came as the council lost out to the then-unnamed “private Sligo housing developer”, with SDCC telling The Echo its bid was “unsuccessful” and it did not intend to CPO the land. It is understood the council’s bid was about €1 million less than the winning bid.Since then, various politicians, local sports clubs and residents groups have called on the council to CPO the property.In June, a motion to reject the rezoning bid passed by a single vote. The land is included in a tranche of proposed rezoning changes to the local development plan and was open for public consultation.