Dublin City Council releases plans for new development at heart of Cherry Orchard

Dublin City Council has unveiled draft proposals for a new mixed development on a big site in Cherry Orchard that, if done right, could provide more of a social centre for the neighbourhood.

Drawings and maps of the plans for the site on Cherry Orchard Avenue, opposite St Ultan’s School, show 171 homes, four retail spaces, two arts and culture spaces, and a community space. 

A green space – with a woodland walk, a stream, two civic plazas, and a play area for small children – would sit in a strip in the middle of it all, show designs drawn up for the council by Seán Harrington Architects. 

Anne Fitzgerald, the CEO of the Liffey Partnership, a community development organisation, said that overall they welcome the plans for homes and amenities. 

Cherry Orchard has long been promised community spaces and retail and a heart to the neighbourhood, she said. “That’s long overdue in Cherry Orchard.”

The public session on Wednesday night at St Ultan’s was the first time that residents had seen these designs, she said. So people will still be looking them over.

Her hope now, she says, is that there will be real listening from council officials, and engagement, on any feedback from the community. 

In May, the Liffey Partnership and Cherry Orchard Implementation Board held a big event, focused on what local residents would love to see in any retail units and community spaces – and how to make sure that what fills them adds to life in the neighbourhood. 

The scheme could be a great flagship project for Dublin City Council, Fitzgerald says. But “it’s so important that the people of Cherry Orchard are listened to”.

What’s in the drafts

The draft map for the future of the site shows a neighbourhood centre in the south-western corner where Cherry Orchard Avenue meets Blackditch Road.

That would have four shops, and community spaces on the ground floor. Above those, would be apartments for senior citizens. 

To the north of that block would be terraced two-storey social homes. 

Then, on the east of the site – the other side of a landscaped green space and the uncovered stream – would be more two-storey homes, these ones earmarked for affordable purchase.

A few points to tease out came up at unveiling of the plans last night, and during earlier discussions, says Fitzgerald, the CEO of the Liffey Partnership. 

Key is what kind of businesses will move into the retail spaces, she says. 

At the end of May, the Liffey Partnership and the Cherry Orchard Implementation Board gathered more than 50 people to brainstorm and pull together what they think the community needs from the village centre.

The focus was on the potential of social enterprises to make sure that what opens up really adds value to the community – and to make sure that the spaces don’t just sit empty as they sometimes do.

A report, summarising the event, says that: “Attendees suggested that a social enterprise café, bakery, bicycle shop, enterprise incubation and social supermarket would enhance identity, social placemaking and togetherness in the community.”

People wanted more retail spaces than four, the report says. They also wanted spaces that attract lots of footfall throughout the day and so feel safer – and that provide opportunities for learning and training.

Like a beauty studio along the lines of Hair Together in Ballymun, or a bike shop with classes similar to Frontline Bikes in Inchicore, the report says.

“That makes the place a destination point in the community,” says Fitzgerald.

Councillors say that they would like to see Dublin City Council officials be active in approaching social enterprises who would be a good fit for the units, based on community wishes.

“The area has lacked a social centre since it was built, it’s a food desert, and it is very high on social deprivation measures – so how do we make sure that we provide houses, but also community amenities and supports?” said Ray Cunningham, a Green Party councillor.

“We should be actively seeking … these are the things that we want to go in here,” said Cunningham.

Hazel de Nortúin, a People Before Profit councillor, said the same.

And because it is council land, councillors have to agree to any potential tenants for the retail units that council officials may propose, she says. “There is a bit of power in that.”

To be teased out

Other issues that came up on Monday night included concerns around daylighting – uncovering and bringing above ground – the Blackditch Stream which runs through the site.

Parents and grandparents are worried about the safety of bringing up the stream, said de Nortúin, the councillor.

She is currently thinking through her position on that, she says. 

She appreciates biodiversity, she says, but is also conscious that sometimes amenities aren’t managed well – and then fences get put up anyway. “I’m on both sides of that argument.”

There were also questions about segregation between the social homes and the affordable purchase homes in the plans. 

De Nortúin also wants to know more about the decision to separate the social homes on the west of the site, from the affordable purchase homes on the east of the site, she says. “We’ll be looking for guidance on that.”

De Nortúin says that there is the possibility that the affordable purchase homes will switch to social homes.

Council officials are watching the level of interest in affordable-purchase homes the Land Development Agency is building elsewhere in the neighbourhood, she says. If the interest isn’t there, they could use these on the site in the heart of Cherry Orchard as social, she says. 

Mid-afternoon on Tuesday, parents outside St Ultan’s School – which sits opposite the site of the proposed scheme – said they weren’t really aware of, or clued in to, the details of the plans.

Still, early questions tumbled out. Would the scheme make competition for creche, or school, spaces tighter? 

“If you’re building more homes, there’s more kids,” said Eileen Cunningham, sat waiting for the kids to burst out at pick-up time.

How would people learn about it all? Many hadn’t known about the session on the plans a day earlier, said Sabrina Hickey. “I didn’t know about the meeting.” 

The council should definitely leaflet homes in the area, she says, to make sure that everyone knows what is proposed and can weigh in.

The next step for the council will be to apply for planning permission, through the process known as Part 8 – which includes a window for public consultation and people to say what they think.

Fitzgerald, the Liffey Partnership CEO, says she wants to stress that the community is not opposed to housing. 

But people do want to make sure that they are heard as the details are finalised, she said, and to make sure this creates a real heart to the community. “They want real place-making.”