The Killea Residents Group in Dunmore East has said it is opposed to the County Council’s development plan for the village. A spokesperson said Dunmore East was a beautiful and idyllic village and the Residents’ Group was striving to maintain its character for future generations.
The proposed changes would completely alter the character of the historic village and the infrastructure to support the proposed plan was not in place nor were there any plans to correct that imbalance, said residents’ spokesperson, Paddy Early.
“Waterford County Council’s draft County Development Plan projects a population increase of 50% for Dunmore East or circa 800 people by 2017 which we feel is unsustainable in such a short time frame given the infrastructure deficit in the village. It would need approximately 13 hectares to achieve this increase yet Dunmore East has 69 hectares of land zoned for residential use. If all this land was developed, the population of Dunmore would increase from around 1,500 to over 5,500”, said Mr Early.
Infrastructure
He said Dunmore East suffered from a lack of adequate infrastructure and the road network was fragile at best. That fact was highlighted by the enforced closure of the main road linking the lower and upper villages due to the impact of coastal erosion. That had been closed for months and with no remedial action taking place to date.
“Our understanding also is that the road known as ‘The High Road’ is not in great shape and that the Council has an engineer’s report to that effect. Also the road to the Golf Club is also understood to be suspect. Basic infrastructure such as footpaths, car parking, shops, and other community facilities are lacking even for the existing population in summertime. The existing national schools are already at capacity.
“Despite all the above, the County Council has designated Dunmore East as a District Service Centre, and positioned it in third place in the county’s urban settlement hierarchy. Were Dunmore East to be turned from a beautiful tourist village into a dormitory town serving Waterford City, then its tourism appeal would be significantly damaged or eliminated altogether. The County Council would effectively kill the goose that lays the golden eggs”, said Mr Early.
