3,000+ new houses planned for Leixlip

n97 mini

Reported in this week's Liffey Champion. Can Leixlip, a village of 700 in 1970, now with a population of around 14,000, support an extra 10,000+ inhabitants?

2,000 houses planned for the other side of Cope Bridge in Confey alone. Around the Wonderful Barn is to become a housing estate.

I haven't seen the full plan but with the lack of amenities in the area already: no cinema, swimming pool, recycling centre, and substandard public transport personally I think this is ill thought out. Would KCC plan for an extra 3,000+ houses in Naas?

Stealthirl

There is a lot of supporting development as well and the development over Cope bridge is not expected till the early 2020's

http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/Planning/DevelopmentPlans/LocalAreaPlans/DraftLeixlipLocalAreaPlan2017-2023/Draft%20LAP%20with%20maps%20FINAL.pdf

Eric Cartman

I see in that plan an idea to renovate the carpark in the middle of the village into some sort of public space, will they jog on, leixlip is stressed enough for parking.

also any building over cope bridge would need a bridge widening first.

Rosahane

I'm not that keen on an extra 3000 houses with the associated increase in traffic and pressure on services. The plan to have two new major estates opening onto the Celbridge Road is fraught with problems and will cause ongoing access problems onto an already busy road and hugely increase the traffic going through Castletown housing estate as this is the shortest and quickest route to the motorway, the majority of the buses and the main primary schools.

One partial solution, which I will be submitting, and which is not currently on the plan, is the provision of a new link road from the existing Celbridge road roundabout which is beside HP and Barnhall RFC to run alongside the boundary between the HP campus and Castletown House demense and out onto the M4 junction.

n97 mini

Apart from road works there is no plan to provide any additional services whatsoever, not even a new school. This plan is madder than a box of frogs.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Christ we were looking at buying in leixlip. This is something to consider.

Rosahane

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

Christ we were looking at buying in leixlip. This is something to consider.

Leixlip is a nice place to live and nothing is actually going to change too dramatically in the short to medium term. The part of the plan that involves the access on the Celbridge Road is going to have to be considered in light of traffic issues while the plan for Confey will depend on a lot of work on upgrading Cope Bridge and the Confet roads.

Much of what is in the plan actually isn't too bad. walkways and cycleways are placed to open up the park at the Wonderful Barn from the Easton Road side.

Other than traffic implications the big issue I see is addressing the access to the Train Station and the three Primary Schools for vehicular traffic without traffic going through Castletown Estate. A solution to that would also address the issue of traffic going in the opposite direction to Cholaiste Chiarin secondary school and the Gaelscoil.

Balf

n97 mini wrote: »

I haven't seen the full plan but with the lack of amenities in the area already: no cinema, swimming pool, recycling centre, and substandard public transport personally I think this is ill thought out. Would KCC plan for an extra 3,000+ houses in Naas?

In fairness, I'd not have seen it as that bleak.

Schools surely have capacity. There's busloads of children from the vast estates around Lucan bussing it to Leixlip, reflecting not just a shortage of places in Lucan but availability of places here.

There's two railway stations, with a reasonably frequent service that can presumably grow with demand, to say nothing of a reasonably frequent (every 15 mins plus expresses at peak times) bus service similarly with scope for capacity to be increased without drama.

The main street is half empty, which presumably means few shops can find a market for the existing population. Again, that suggests a capacity for growth.

So, in fairness, I'm not sure I really see a problem. And I doubt that all 3,000 houses will be built in a day, with 10,000 people moving in the next day.

Rosahane

Balf wrote: »

In fairness, I'd not have seen it as that bleak.

Schools surely have capacity. There's busloads of children from the vast estates around Lucan bussing it to Leixlip, reflecting not just a shortage of places in Lucan but availability of places here.

There's two railway stations, with a reasonably frequent service that can presumably grow with demand, to say nothing of a reasonably frequent (every 15 mins plus expresses at peak times) bus service similarly with scope for capacity to be increased without drama.

The main street is half empty, which presumably means few shops can find a market for the existing population. Again, that suggests a capacity for growth.

So, in fairness, I'm not sure I really see a problem. And I doubt that all 3,000 houses will be built in a day, with 10,000 people moving in the next day.

I agree with you. As I've previously stated the only major problem I see is the likely traffic problems on the Celbridge Road.

On the positive side I like their plans for a series of pedestrian walkways joining all the green/ amenity areas.

BaronVon

n97 mini wrote: »

Reported in this week's Liffey Champion. Can Leixlip, a village of 700 in 1970, now with a population of around 14,000, support an extra 10,000+ inhabitants?

2,000 houses planned for the other side of Cope Bridge in Confey alone. Around the Wonderful Barn is to become a housing estate.

I haven't seen the full plan but with the lack of amenities in the area already: no cinema, swimming pool, recycling centre, and substandard public transport personally I think this is ill thought out. Would KCC plan for an extra 3,000+ houses in Naas?

I just read the Development plan there. The Confey development is a long way off yet, and there's plenty of infrastructure plans which will have to be completed prior to the irst house even being built.

4 areas identified in the short term, Wonderful Barn (2 storey), behind Leixlip Park (2-3 storey), Easton (2-4 storey) and Leixlip Gate (2-4 storey). All will be medium to low density housing, with upgrading of existing infrastructure prior to commencement of building work. Plans all seem very reasonable to me.

Substandard public transport? 2 train stations with parking, and a frequent bus route, what more do you expect for it to be no longer substanard?

I always laugh at this Cinema notion, I've been hearing it for years. Surely if it makes economic sense for a cinema to be biult, it will be built by a private entity? It is not the Council's responsibility to build and operate a cinema. A civic amenity centre is on the way......

Eric Cartman

the chap who owns base tried getting an outdoor cinema going with the view to looking into building one, wasn't viable, especially with a direct bus to liffey valley.

I don't think a pool is viable either considering the number of pools available in close proximity.

Im pretty happy the plan includes a provision for no more bookies, but aside from the three spar's with poor selection and supervalu theres no off licence in leixlip.

n97 mini

Re public transport, bus routes or train stations aren't an indicator of quality.

All regular bus routes are too long. Like the 25a/b they should skip Chapelizod. 66b doesn't run Sundays at all. 66a is every two hours on Sundays, last bus before 9pm. Train service off peak is hourly (DART is moving to every 10 minutes), and averages a very poor speed (some trains already average less than 20 mph). Last train on Sunday is before 9pm. There has been talk for 40 years of electrifying the line. I wouldn't hold out for that one!

By public transport the only public swimming pool that is reachable in less than 2 hours is Coolmine. Celbridge and Leixlip are not linked either (nor is Coolmine practical by public transport from Celbridge).

Planning permission for a cinema was refused by KCC for a number of idiotic reasons, one of them being that there would be a new cinema in Collinstown as part of a new town that was supposed to be built there. That never materialised.

Meanwhile Adamstown, 2 miles away, is still less than 50% complete.

I read in the paper that the Celbridge plan, when complete will add over 4000 houses to that town.

Stealthirl

Wasn't it Damien Donegan who was trying to build a cinema in the field between Apple green and Crodaun years ago and it was rejected by the CC because it would adversely affect traffic.

Mental Mickey

Where are these houses going to be built? Are there any bungalows planned?

Stealthirl

As unrealistic as it might be to say it id like to see a bus that linked Blanch town center,Leixlip,Maynooth,Celbridge,Citywest and Tallaght

L1011

Bungalows are effectively gone within the greater Dublin area as new builds

n97 mini

Stealthirl wrote: »

Wasn't it Damien Donegan who was trying to build a cinema in the field between Apple green and Crodaun years ago and it was rejected by the CC because it would adversely affect traffic.

It's been well covered by local TDs as well as all the files being on KCC's website (file 091273).

daheff

Eric Cartman wrote: »

I don't think a pool is viable either considering the number of pools available in close proximity.

I think you and me are the only people who believe this. Theres been any number of threads here giving out about there being no public pool in north kildare.

n97 mini

daheff wrote: »

I think you and me are the only people who believe this. Theres been any number of threads here giving out about there being no public pool in north kildare.

Out of curiosity what pool(s) do you use?

Eric Cartman

n97 mini wrote: »

Out of curiosity what pool(s) do you use?

Theres crunch fitness on the backroads between leixlip and clonsilla

Nui maynooth has a publically accessoble pool

The glenroyal hotel

The westgrove in clane

Im sure theres more that Im forgetting, does carton house have a pool ?

donspeekinglesh

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Nui maynooth has a publically accessoble pool

It's closed a while now.

Rosahane

Westmanstown, Carton, Glenroyal all have pools which are open to members at a significant yearly cost and possibly to non members at an exorbitant cost per person visit.

St. Raphaels and NUI also have pools but they may now be closed to the public.

There is no public pool in North Kildare!

Eric Cartman

Rosahane wrote: »

Westmanstown, Carton, Glenroyal all have pools which are open to members at a significant yearly cost and possibly to non members at an exorbitant cost per person visit.

St. Raphaels and NUI also have pools but they may now be closed to the public.

There is no public pool in North Kildare!

the glenroyal is 12 euro for an adult with no membership, I use it all the time, thats not mad money by any stretch,

the public pool in portlaoise (the only other one I have reference on) is a 10er a go, hardly breaking the bank in the difference.

or you can get the bus to stewarts in palmerstown and swim for a 5er.

this is really not a priority and not a badly needed service in north kildare. seems like a bit of a waste of money to me.

n97 mini

Eric Cartman wrote: »

this is really not a priority and not a badly needed service in north kildare. seems like a bit of a waste of money to me.

It's not like the money is being spent elsewhere in North Kildare.

lucernarian

This thread seems mainly about local swimming pools?!

There's lot's of scope for housing north of Convey train station. I just hope the bridge can be dealt with first, and a rather ordinary stone bridge can be widened or replaced without unnecessary costs.

daheff

n97 mini wrote: »

Out of curiosity what pool(s) do you use?

Mainly use pool in Naas or clondalkin/ Stewarts hospital as thats where we can get swimming lessons for the kids.

However as pointed out there are a number of pools around north kildare.

The big problem people have is they expect there to be a public pool. Not enough that a number of private operators have pools that can be accessed

daheff

Rosahane wrote: »

Westmanstown, Carton, Glenroyal all have pools which are open to members at a significant yearly cost and possibly to non members at an exorbitant cost per person visit.

St. Raphaels and NUI also have pools but they may now be closed to the public.

There is no public pool in North Kildare!

NUI is closed, but Raphaels currently run swimming lessons. Although as they are having issues with HIQA and may be closing, then I'd expect to see the pool access go too.

Rosahane

COB today is the last date for submissions on the Leixlip Draft Plan.

You can make your submission online.

n97 mini

daheff wrote: »

The big problem people have is they expect there to be a public pool. Not enough that a number of private operators have pools that can be accessed

Yes, they expect the same facilities as other areas in exchange for their local property taxes.

The problem with private pools is the operator can change the rules whenever they feel like it (and so they are entitled to). Most require costly annual membership; the only one that doesn't (at the moment) is the Glen Royal.

daheff

n97 mini wrote: »

Yes, they expect the same facilities as other areas in exchange for their local property taxes.

You understand that there is a limit to how much they can do with the funds they get. No matter how far they stretch it, something has to give. Capital expenditure is always going to be hit over current expenditure.

n97 mini

daheff wrote: »

You understand that there is a limit to how much they can do with the funds they get. No matter how far they stretch it, something has to give. Capital expenditure is always going to be hit over current expenditure.

Kildare as a whole has a surplus, which gets distributed to other counties.

BaronVon

Planning permission for the Easton phase was granted planning permission on the 20th December, you'd wonder why the Development Plan had a submission closing date of 4th january then :rolleyes:

Anyway, permission is for 170 houses (126 3-beds, the rest 4/5 bed houses in 2/3 storeys) and 30 apartments in 2 3-storey blocks, with 430 car parking spaces and a creche. 59 conditions attached to the original planning application.

Seems reasonable to me.

n97 mini

No bus route in place (how old is Glen Easton now?), still the lowest staffed and worst performing garda division in the country, still only a temporary playground, yadda yadda yadda. Things like this should be sorted out in advance.

Rosahane

infacteh wrote: »

Planning permission for the Easton phase was granted planning permission on the 20th December, you'd wonder why the Development Plan had a submission closing date of 4th january then :rolleyes:

Anyway, permission is for 170 houses (126 3-beds, the rest 4/5 bed houses in 2/3 storeys) and 30 apartments in 2 3-storey blocks, with 430 car parking spaces and a creche. 59 conditions attached to the original planning application.

Seems reasonable to me.

Free electricity - well EMF anyway, for a good number of the houses with the 220 KV line passing right through the estate and the existing pylon right inside the entrance.

It will be interesting to see how well these particular houses sell!

BaronVon

n97 mini wrote: »

No bus route in place (how old is Glen Easton now?), still the lowest staffed and worst performing garda division in the country, still only a temporary playground, yadda yadda yadda. Things like this should be sorted out in advance.

The Bus Stop has to be moved to make way for the estate entrance. With regards Garda numbers, "Garda deployment is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner" is the line that is repeatedly used in answer to this. It seems no planning authority or politician is has any ability to change this!

n97 mini

infacteh wrote: »

The Bus Stop has to be moved to make way for the estate entrance.

Which one?

BaronVon

The one on Easton Road opposite Beech Park will have to be moved a few metres east to make way for the new entrance.