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A case in point being our request this week for a statement on Wicklow Planning’s recent approval of those 155 houses right in the middle of Delgany.
Delgany WEDS5JAN22
here was a time when the approval by Wicklow County Council of 155 houses right in the middle of a village as small as Delgany would have sparked outrage.
here was a time when the approval by Wicklow County Council of 
Maybe a protest or two. Or even a white riot.
Maybe a protest or two. Or even a white riot.Today, thanks to the fact that Wicklow County Council have been dumping new housing estates every few months in the county’s most lucrative patch has left us all punch-drunk. We’ve been here before. And before. And before…
Couple that with the fog of lockdown after lockdown, and it’s not so much a case of Stockholm Syndrome as Wicklow Weariness.
Couple that with the fog of lockdown after lockdown, and it’s not so much a case of Stockholm Syndrome as Wicklow Weariness.It doesn’t help that Wicklow County Council clearly don’t like having their decisions questioned. Something we’ve experienced on more than one occasion.
Ask their Arts Office why a big chunk of the €143,000 Government funding received to help out Wicklow’s music industry ended up in the pocket of a Wexford sound hire company, and you’re rewarded with a panicked phone call and then a spot on their blacklist.
The infamous Gategate
Ask why no one at Wicklow County Council bothered to tell Greystones – or any of its councillors or district council staff – about the installation of large metal gates on our harbour’s north pier, and, yep, we were rewarded with the traditional panicked phone call (always a sign of someone in control) and a distinct lack of any communication ever since.
A case in point being our request this week for a statement on Wicklow Planning’s recent approval of those 155 houses right in the middle of Delgany. 
A development that Wicklow County Council had basically rejected in its original form when given the thumbs up by An Bord Pleanála in February 2021.
Here’s their helpful reply in full…
I wish to acknowledge receipt of your email in the above regard and advise that all reports on the decision making process in respect of PRR 21/959 and 21/960 are publically available to view online (www.wicklow.ie).
It makes you wonder if anyone in Wicklow County Council is willing to stand up and be responsible for the decisions that affect all of us – sometimes deeply, given the lack of schools and the ever-growing abundance of traffic around here? Surely if they truly believe their decision is a wise and fair one, they could let us know how their numbers added up so differently to those living in the affected areas…?
Paul Armstrong Delgany WEDS5JAN22
We’ve sent two emails to Ruairi – before and after Christmas – to try and get clarity on this but, so far, no reply.
1 comment
Very good interview.
It is frustrating that WCC are not acting as honest brokers in all this.
Attending a meeting with locals to discuss the excellent plans and ideas generated locally, but announcing the next day that all funding for improvements has been pulled, and admitting that this had already been decided before the meeting.
WCC saying they were against the high density Convent development when it was lodged to An Bord Pleanala by the developer as part of the special SHD process. But when that application got bogged down in a judicial review, and the developer lodged essentially the same plans with WCC (but split into two parts, east and west) they have granted permission. Somehow the “material contravention” of the zoning no longer matters at all now.