A Tale of Two Public Spaces: Dartmouth and Churchlane

national | housing | feature

Wednesday September 06, 2006 14:25

by Indymedia Editorial Collective

Reclaiming Fitzwilliam Square over Mayday'04

From the newswire: A LOCAL authority has come under fire after revelations it sold a prime development site in a thriving town centre for just €100. Leitrim County Council last week defended its decision to sell the town centre car park, which is estimated at being worth tens of thousands of euros. The land on Church Lane just off the Main Street in Manorhamilton was sold to the Manorhamilton Enterprise Forum Ltd, a voluntary group comprising of local businessmen. They have since sold it on to developers for an undisclosed "slight" profit who are in the process of building a major residential and commercial development on the site. The development was unsuccessfully appealed by a number of local residents to An Bord Pleanala in April and involved a petitions signed by Hundreds of local people. It has further emerged this week that the County Council have agreed to purchase back some of the development for €900,000....story continues.

Residents Reclaim Dartmouth Square: Public Party Set For Saturday

"I greatly appreciated being able to completely relax in the area without having to worry about the next car that was going to pull out in front of me or when the controller would start shouting at me to start work again.. I am not from the area, but I think it is ridiculous that the developer thinks that Dublin needs more car parks, come on! I think his comments are more like an attempt to pull the wool over Dublin's eyes. Come on O'Gara, does Dublin really need more car parking space or are you just trying to come across on the side of the ' Dublin rate payers ', when really all you want to do is profit from you initial investment. I think that the Council should pay the man for the park and get rid of him, get him out of the picture all together. Sadly I now live in Sweden and I am unable to offer my support to the residents of Dartmouth square in person, but any of you that may read this post, please know that you have my virtual support! The next time I return to Dublin, I hope Dartmouth square will be open, because it will be one of the places I will be brining my Swedish partner and our two Children for a picnic. Go n'éirí an t-ádh leat." - an Indy commentator

Read more on Dartmouth (scroll down for the latest updates in this dispute including details of public party on Saturday 9th) | Reclamation of Fitzwilliam Square back over the Mayday '04 weekend