Eyesore On Main Street?

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ith Wicklow County Council keen to be seen to be dealing with the lack of housing in The Garden Patio of Ireland, more and more Wicklow towns are going to see estates popping up on their backdoor step overnight.

Or, in the case of the new Bullford development in Kilcoole, on their front doorstep.

Having just popped up on the radar last week, this new project involves 267 units  – including 183 residential, 84 duplex, five retail, four offices, one childcare facility, and an innovation hub with adjoining civic space.

Which is all fairly fab and maybe even groovy, given that Kilcoole is a growing town, and the new homes are definitely needed. It’s just the plans that suck ever so slightly, with Bullford’s five retail units being lined up against Kilcoole’s main street, on the makeshift car park beside the Molly Malone. 

Echoing the retail units further down the town, just beyond the traffic lights, the argument that Kilcoole’s long-planned green would be a far more pleasant and practical fit is just one of the tweaks that local councillors are asking Kimpton Vale Ltd, the company behind Bullford, to consider.

With an emergency meeting planned in the town next Tuesday, October 2nd, at 7.30pm in St Patrick’s Hall, we spoke with Cllr Grainne McLoughlin and Cllr Tom Fortune about the small changes that could make a big difference to this major Kilcoole expansion.

You can find out more about the Bullford development here.