In Godzilla We Trust

And so it came to pass that the dark prophecy foretold by the Fallen Angel Gabriel has come to pass.

Back in October 2018, local estate agent Dooley told the Guide that he reckoned 1,000 houses would be built within 1,000 metres of the villge centre within the next three years.

And the fecker was right.

With the retail and residential complex behind The Wicklow Arms close to completion, Style Bawn House lined up for 50 or 60 houses (plus more retail units), an application for another 99 houses (alongside Eastmount’s pretty much completed 74) along Chapel Road, and Gorteen Way jumping from 82 houses to 92, village life is getting crowded. Oh, and let’s not to mention the cunning individual who is slowly turning Blackberry Lane into an estate field by field by field.

Well, now it’s the turn of the very central and once very crucial Carmelite church.

Last November, these 15 acres of residental-zoned land sold for €15m, and the buyer is now coming to collect. By applying for 232 houses right in the clogged-up heart of Delgany.

Of those 232 units, the bould Drumakilla Ltd are planning 136 apartments in 2- and 4-storey blocks with basement parking and storage; 96 2-bed and 4-bed houses; 320 parking spaces; 360 bikes spaces and 25 social housing units.

There will be a new vehicular access from Bellevue Hill, with three minor access points provided there too for groups of 4 semi-detached houses, plus a new access road from Convent Road to go alongside the current church entrance.

Also part of the application is the ‘potential for a one way traffic system with a roundabout at the entrance to Delgany village’, requested by Wicklow County Council.

Being a protected building, the main church will become a community centre, with the neighbouring convent building to the left housing a creche facility. All part of a community plaza, of course, with cycle parking frames at every turn and, given that Ireland has recently been dragged kicking and screaming into the late 20th century, a Tree Protection Plan and a bunch of Biodiversity And Planting Proposals.

In short, this new development will become a village within a village. Only, actually larger than the village itself.

This highly-desirable and ferociously-lucrative Delgany and Greystones area is the golden goose for Wicklow County Council. And we’re already well and truly plucked.

The site is 6.2 hecares (which is 15.3 acres, in old money), with a state density of about 38.1 units per hectate. Being a Strategic Housing Development, this application goes straight to An Bord Pleanála. You can still object nonetheless – details here.

You can also check out the full plans for Delgany’s new Godzilla Estate right here.