Millbourne residents reach fundraising target in a bid to save green space

Residents of an Ashbourne housing estate say that reaching their fundraising target of €45,000 to cover legal costs in a bid to fight to save their only green space from development could not have been achieved without the support of the community.

Earlier this An Bord Pleanála granted permission for 30 apartments on the only green space in Millbourne estate in Ashbourne. The decision follows many prior rejections and protests from locals.

It has been a long running battle for Millbourne who just six months ago set up a GoFundMe page to help with legal costs to challenge the decision in a judicial review.

Last year following public pressure the land was rezoned to public open space, however, planning permission for the three apartment blocks was granted under the current county development plan meaning that decision still stands unless residents have success with a judicial review.

But should they win, no further applications can be lodged to build on the land.

Sarah Foley of Millbourne Resident’s Association said the generosity of locals was “overwhelming.” She added:

“We only launched the fundraiser six months ago and we have been in lockdown for most of it so it is unbelievable that we achieved getting to that amount, we are absolutely delighted.

“All of the local businesses have been fantastic. We asked them to make a donation or if they couldn’t manage that taking lockdown into consideration, they gave us raffle prizes instead so everyone was so generous.

“Local residents in Millbourne and Ashbourne have been donating every month, there was just support from every angle, everywhere we went people had heard about the story and wanted to help us out.

“We had to adjust our fundraising in so many ways because of all the lockdowns so we are kind of shocked in a way that we have got this far.

“The focus now turns to the judicial review proceedings as the next court date is set for April 20th.

"We originally planned to have a junior council because we didn’t think we’d have the money for a senior council so now we can go to the high court and use a senior barrister to fight our cause.”

Mum of one Sarah explains how important saving the green space is:

“We have no public park in Ashbourne for people to use or bring their children to, even for me when I’m bringing my son out for a walk you are just walking around estates, there is nowhere I could let him out to run.

“If we had the green he could play and run around there without that he is contained in the back garden the whole time so it’s so important to have this little bit of green space.

“I grew up in Ashbourne in one of the older estates and there they have green patches everywhere and I was very annoyed that we had managed to buy a house, we were told when we bought the house, that the green was our green so you kind of felt a bit deceived when you discover plans for it to be developed.

“A lot of us felt there was something wrong going on when you started looking at Meath County Council’s development plan that states that fifteen percent of all estates should be green space that little bit of green if we get it is not even fifteen percent it’s only around ten percent.

Late last year residents received a message of support from legendary Only Fools and Horses’ actor “Boycie.”

In a hilarious video Challis channeling the iconic character warned he may have to get “The Driscoll Brothers” (Peckhams’s answer to the Kray Twins) on the case and told the community to “fight the good fight.”