A new bid to rezone “high amenity” Liffey Valley lands owned by billionaire businessmen John Magnier and JP McManus for almost 500 homes has been submitted to South Dublin County Council. The O’Flynn Group, development partners of McManus and Magnier, is urging the council to reverse a June decision to block housing development on the lands at St Edmundsbury on the southside of the river Liffey, close to Lucan and just west of the Hermitage Golf Club.Developer Michael O’Flynn in a statement to The Irish Times said it was “unconscionable” the development of homes on the land was being blocked “at a time of a national housing emergency”.McManus and Magnier bought the 110 hectares of land, formerly part of the St Edmundsbury Hospital estate, from Seán Mulryan and Marese Ltd, for €4.3 million at an auction ordered by the National Asset Management Agency.Successive attempts, by the group and previous owners, to rezone the land for housing have been rejected by the council due to the site’s amenity value, and because sufficient sites had already been rezoned in the Lucan area for housing.However, following an edict last summer from Minister for Housing James Browne that all local authorities must rezone significant additional land for housing, the council’s chief executive Colm Ward earlier this year recommended councillors rezone about 15 hectares at St Edmundsbury.[ John Magnier and JP McManus could see rich returns if €4m Liffey Valley lands are rezonedOpens in new window ]More than 1,600 submissions were made to the council opposing the rezoning, with Lucan locals branding the proposal “unthinkable”, “baffling” and “an absolute disgrace”. A majority suggested the lands should instead form part of a Liffey Valley park which had been proposed by the Office of Public Works 20 years ago.Ahead of the rezoning meeting Ward reduced the land proposed for housing at St Edmundsbury to just under 10 hectares, leaving the rest as high-amenity lands. However, councillors voted against rezoning any of the St Edmundsbury lands.A new submission made this month by the O’Flynn Group argues the revised rezoning proposal now accounts for “only 8.8 per cent of the overall 110-hectare estate” owned by McManus and Magnier and the plan to rezone this land “should be reinstated”.Removing these lands and the potential for 464 homes adjoining the “existing built-up area of Lucan” meant housing targets for south Dublin would be reliant on “timely delivery of a smaller number of highly constrained” sites.“The statutory process is not determined by the number of submissions received but by the planning merits of the issues raised and the planning authority’s assessment of those issues,” it said.The submission noted 61 hectares of the estate lie within the Liffey Valley special amenity area (SAA) and these lands have not been proposed for rezoning.Responding to queries from The Irish Times, Michael O’Flynn said: “No housing is, or ever was, proposed on the lands along the river Liffey or within the SAA. Unfortunately, some of the public commentary surrounding the proposal suggested otherwise.”The proposal by the group “is about considerably more than housing,” he said.“Our ambition is that St Edmundsbury would become part of the long-standing vision for a Liffey Valley park,” he said. “This provides the opportunity to formalise what is currently unauthorised access to this area. This land is currently private, and its opening is part of an overall plan for the Liffey Valley.“Housing delivery and environmental protection need not be competing objectives at St Edmundsbury. With the right policy environment we can achieve both.A report on rezoning proposals will be prepared by the council ahead of a vote of councillors in the autumn.