Fingal lays plans to develop an “employment zone” on agricultural lands west of Balbriggan

Just west of Balbriggan, the border with Stephenstown is roughly marked by wild gorse.

Yellowy leaves and sharpened thorns pop up among the long grass that runs along the Clonard Road next to the Millfield Shopping Centre on the outskirts of town.

Stephenstown, and its neighbouring townland Folkstown Little, are predominantly agricultural lands, hemmed in by the Bracken River, the shopping centre, a pair of industrial estates and the M1 motorway to Belfast.

They are lands that the council has zoned for “general employment”, “high technology” and a bit of “open space”. 

“The land out that area has always been locally known as the land that was going to be developed for industrial development,” said local Councillor Tony Murphy, by phone on Monday.

The council’s ambition is to realise that by creating an “employment zone” with green corridors that link in with Balbriggan town, according to the framework plans it has prepared for both Stephenstown and Folkstown Little.

Framework plans are non-statutory documents that provide detailed guidelines for developing in a specific area, with this particular one covering roughly 132 hectares (326 acres).

Almost 250 acres of that belong to the council, says Fingal mayor and Fine Gael Councillor Tom O’Leary. “We want to make that a green industrial park, a circular economy park.”

And the plan drafted in pursuit of that goal was agreed by councillors last week at Fingal’s monthly council meeting on 13 October.

“It’s on the books now,” O’Leary says. “It’s non-statutory, but the planners will now look at that plan, and they’ll expect whoever makes a planning application to comply with that plan.”

Prepping for something different

Stephenstown and Folkstown Little sit between Flemington to the north and Castlelands to the south, both of which are zoned for homes, according to the new framework for these townlands.

Those major housing developments are at varying stages of completion. In September, the council announced that it had started work on 377 houses and 440 apartments in Hampton Demesne, formerly known as Castlelands.

That project, which includes social and affordable homes, is being done in partnership with developer Ballymore, the council’s press release says.

It probably wouldn’t make sense to add another development in Stephenstown or Folkstown, says Sarah Zimmerman, secretary of the Balbriggan Sustainable Energy Community CLG (SEC), a local community organisation. “So I think it’s better that it’s employment-related here.”

Stephenstown’s plan aims to provide employment in manufacturing of high technology, and “major office and research and development based employment” within accessible campus-style settings, the framework plan says.

At the same time, itself and Folkstown Little are zoned for “general employment”, with the plan listing them as potential lands for construction yards, civic waste facilities, and food processing.

All of this should be done with a view of protecting the natural assets in the area, like the Bracken River and the hedgerows, it says, with environmental sustainability promoted through open spaces, green corridors and sustainable drainage systems.

Some of the hedgerows are historic, dating back to the early 1800s and passerine birds were identified in surveys too, the plan notes.

It’s an area that really needs to be approached with a great deal of sensitivity, says Zimmerman, who is also a research officer at the Rediscovery Centre, the National Centre for the Circular Economy.

The landbanks will be developed as an eco-industrial park, she says. “The idea is to build capacity for climate action, which of course, we’d be all for. But the question is what actual businesses go in.”

There isn’t any detail on that yet, she says.

Nor has a council spokesperson, when asked on Tuesday morning, provided any information as to whether it has been engaging with potential businesses to date.

Consultation

Both Stephenstown and Folkstown Little were placed by councillors on a list of eight priority areas that needed a framework plan, during the timeframe of its current development plan for 2023 to 2029.

To date, the council has produced a masterplan for the Old School House in Clonsilla, a framework plan for Clonsilla as well, and a local area plan for Flemington in north Balbriggan.

Framework plans for Swords, Dunsink and Kilbarrack Industrial Estate remain on the cards, according to the council’s capital programme for 2026 to 2028.

The framework plan for Stephenstown and Folkstown was initially put out for a public consultation in October 2024. Fifteen submissions came back.

Most were from state bodies like the Health Service Executive, Uisce Éireann and the National Transport Authority. Only six came from Balbriggan residents and community groups, and one from a developer.

It wasn’t a great turn-out, says Zimmerman of the Balbriggan Sustainable Energy Community. “You would have liked to see more. More submissions means better engagement.”

Balbriggan SEC’s own submission noted that the framework plan should consider district heating for the area as it is both capital intensive, and facilitated by underground infrastructure.

District heating schemes generally take waste heat from industrial plants, and use it to heat water, and pipe that into buildings’ radiators to keep them warm – reducing the use of fossil fuels for heating.

In Dublin city, the council is planning one using heat from the Poolbeg incinerator. In Fingal, the council is looking at a district heating scheme in Blanchardstown, using waste heat from data centres. 

District heating has been identified in Fingal’s Climate Action Plan as a critical factor in decarbonising the heating of buildings, their submission says. “Such an approach will avoid the typical dispersed fossil fuel and electrical heating currently in commercial buildings.”

That suggestion however, is not included in the framework plan for Stephenstown and Folkstown.

According to Fingal’s capital programme, Blanchardstown is the only area in the county where district heating is being considered right now with those plans currently at the detailed design stage.

Getting around

The framework plan will also aim to promote active travel and pedestrian connectivity, as well as an upgrade to the existing roads and junctions, it says.

Those upgrades should also align with “sustainable movement principles”, it says.

The council has also included a commitment to deliver bicycle sharing hubs within the area, it says, noting too that 20 percent of all parking spaces should be provided with functioning EV charging points.

All other spaces should incorporate appropriate ducting to allow for more charging points to be fitted down the line, it says.

The public road network has to be enhanced to meet the area’s needs, including improved connectivity to the M1 and an upgrade to the R122 Naul Road, it says.

That latter is of vital importance, says Murphy, the councillor. “That road is an integral part of the whole infrastructural investment. It is the main artery into Balbriggan and it is a secondary road.”

A spokesperson for the Balbriggan Chamber of Commerce echoed Murphy’s point about the delivery of upgrades to the Naul Road, saying this has caused continued frustration for the local business community and the Chamber alike.

In its own submission, Balbriggan’s Chamber of Commerce said these upgrades shouldn’t be reliant on the works associated with the framework plan being approved, tendered or having funding allocated.

“We feel the R122 upgrade is long overdue and should now be fast-tracked as its own stand-alone infrastructural project with junctions obviously included to suit future phases of the Framework Plan,” they said.

Right now, it’s a narrow rural road, says Murphy, the councillor. “If you’re traveling into Balbriggan on this boreen of a road, from an optics perspective, what impact would that have for serious investors who are coming into our premier space?”

Fingal now needs to entice employers into the area, says O’Leary, the Fine Gael councillor. “We’ll go chasing some clients, some big employers. Balbriggan has employers, but not enough.”