PBP councillor urges residents to engage with LDA consultation on future of Ballymun Shopping Centre site

People Before Profit Councillor Conor Reddy has encouraged people in Ballymun to engage with the public consultation on the Land Development Agency’s emerging plans for the former Ballymun Shopping Centre site.

Yesterday the LDA presented plans for 564 cost-rental homes on the Silloge Road site, made up of studio, one-bed and two-bed apartments across three blocks ranging from six to twelve storeys.

The proposal also includes a childcare facility and 870 sq m of community and cultural space, but no retail space is currently proposed.

Cllr Reddy said the site is one of the most important regeneration sites in Ballymun and that the consultation must not be treated as a box-ticking exercise.

“I am strongly encouraging people in Ballymun to engage with this consultation and make their views known,” Cllr Reddy said.

“This site is too important for local people to be ignored. I really hope the LDA listens to what residents are saying, because the needs of people in Ballymun have been overlooked for far too long.

“Ballymun’s story is a story of broken promises. A new shopping centre was promised before the crash as part of the regeneration but it never materialised.

“The old shopping centre was once the heartbeat of local life, it has been sorely missed since it was closed and demolished.”

Cllr Reddy raised concerns that no retail space is proposed as part of the current scheme.

“Ballymun needs housing, but we also need a real town centre,” he said.

“There is no retail proposed here. No cafés, no restaurants, no butchers, bakers, local shops or services.

“Nothing to bring life back onto our main street.

“Nothing to make daily life easier for people, rejuvenate the local economy or create decent jobs.”

He also criticised the reliance on cost rental, saying it will not address the scale of housing need in Ballymun.

“The proposal, as presented, is entirely cost rental,” he said.

“Cost rental will be not affordable for many Ballymunners and it will do nothing to address the thousands of people waiting for social housing in the area.

“We need family homes of three and four bedrooms. We need affordable purchase options and social housing, not more cost rental.”

Cllr Reddy pointed to recent cost-rental developments nearby as evidence that the model is failing to deliver genuine affordability.

“A recent example, is Niven Oaks in Santry where one-bed cost-rental apartments started at €1,350 per month.

“That may be below market rent, but it is still way beyond what many in the area can afford – it is not an option for lone parents, young workers or families trying to put down roots in their own community.”

Cllr Reddy said Ireland should move away from the current cost-rental model and towards a genuinely public housing system.

“In other European cities, public and cost-rental housing models are very different.

“We should be looking to places like Vienna, where public housing is secure, mixed-income and high-quality.

“To replicate that model here would mean raising income thresholds, linking rents to people’s incomes, giving people lifetime security of tenure, and allowing people to move within the public housing stock as their needs change.

“There are other models worth exploring too. Copenhagen has an affordable ownership model where people can buy their homes but the homes are not lost to the private market because they can only be sold back to the City.

“A similar model could be explored here alongside social housing.

“But ultimately, I favour a universal public housing model, where housing is treated as a public good and people have secure, genuinely affordable homes for life.”

Cllr Reddy said this approach is impossible while Government remains committed to market-led delivery.

“We will not get that kind of model while Government relies on the market for delivery, treating housing as a commodity or asset class,” he said.

“Housing should be treated as a basic need and right, guaranteed by the state. The LDA should be complemented with a state construction company to deliver decent, genuinely affordable homes at scale.

“The other side of the site is linked to the future MetroLink stop, but there are no guarantees that the supporting transport infrastructure will be delivered before people move in at scale.

“With only 0.3 car spaces per unit proposed, the LDA needs to explain clearly how this is going to work in reality.”

The public can view the plans and make a submission through the LDA’s consultation page at lda.ie/projects/silloge-road.

A public drop-in clinic will also take place in the Axis, Ballymun on Wednesday 15 July from 4pm to 8pm.

Cllr Reddy concluded:

“This is only the first stage.

“A planning application is expected later this year, and I will be making an observation then.

“But local people should engage now to shape what that final proposal looks like.”