Walls at entrance to Trinity Gardens declared a protected structure
The plan by private developer Urban Life to build a seven storey block of rental apartments on Georges Street, which has been the cause of much concern for the residents of Trinity Gardens, looks as if it could now be dead in the water.
This follows a mini revolution by Drogheda Councillors, all of whom are opposed to the development, at a Council meeting last week to discuss the Louth County Development plan.
Councillor Pio Smith proposed, and Councillor Joanna Byrne seconded, that the Council support a request by the residents to have the walls at the entrance to Trinity Gardens added to the list of protected structures in the County Development Plan.
The proposal was passed by a majority vote of the Councillors present so, as it stands at the moment, the walls cannot be touched which will make it impossible for the plans, as they currently stand, to go ahead.
Although the County Development plan has not yet been formally adopted it is highly unlikely that the protected status will be reversed.
In their submission to the Council, the Trinity Gardens Residents Association said:
While the walls themselves are a modest structure, built from rendered concrete blocks and having cast iron railings along the full length, they form a unique historically important entrance to one of the first housing estates constructed in Drogheda after the foundation of the State. In fact the cast iron railings are one of the few examples of this type of structure still in existence in the area.
At the time, and indeed up until the present day, the entrance to Trinity Gardens is unmatched anywhere else in the town and could be regarded as socially important as they separate the settled, low rise housing development that makes up Trinity Gardens from the two storey built environment in their immediate neighbourhood.
The residents have consistently said that they are not opposed to the development of the site at Georges Street by Urban Life but they would like to see something more in keeping with the area, something that will enhance the local community.
Last September after the developer’s fist set of plans were withdrawn, Teresa McKenna, a spokesperson for the residents, said that that Urban Life had never consulted directly with the residents but that they would be delighted to sit down with them at any time.
Last week she said: “We would welcome development on the site but it must be done in a sympathetic manner to the neighbours and the area as a whole and a seven-storey monolith is certainly not doing that!”
