Friday, 6 April 2007

New Luas line plan in docklands scheme

PLANS for a new Luas line servicing Dublin's docklands will be included in the redevelopment of the Poolbeg Peninsula, a Dail committee heard yesterday.

A proposed planning scheme for the area, which includes the line, will be prepared in the next few months and available for public consultation by the end of the year.

Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Batt O'Keeffe, told the Joint Committee on Environment that the area could benefit from a range of enhanced transport options. "The opportunity exists to significantly increase the development capacity of the area by extending the Luas, in due course, from the Point village," he said.

Although the extension was anticipated in the 2006 amendment of the North Lotts Planning Scheme, the inclusion of a narrow strip of land along Pigeon House Road and York Road is intended to facilitate the anticipated extension of the Luas into the area.

"The Dublin Docklands Development Authority believes that an integrated, high-quality, high density mixed-use development in Poolbeg is the most sustainable use of land, both socially and economically," said the minister.

"It will help meet the housing, employment, community, cultural and recreational needs of the Docklands area and the wider city."

Anita Mullan
Irish Independent

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