Save Bray Community Group

18/06/2026

The first part of our Judicial Review against An Coimisiún Pleanála's (ACP) grant of permission to Ballymore for their Blocks A and B has been heard in the High Court. It centred around whether or not Ballymore were a day late in submitting an application for a pre-planning meeting for that phase under the Strategic Housing Development (SHO) scheme, consequent on the interpretation of the words used in that Act.
Judge Humphries seemed to accept our barrister's interpretation during the arguments, but later decided to refer it to the Attorney General's office for advice. In addition, Ballymore's barrister wanted to argue 'a collateral attack' was caused by the case being taken after a decision was made, and that it should have been taken when the pre-planning meeting was accepted by ACP: the problem with that is pre-planning meetings are not publicly advertised, so we didn't know one was taking place at the time.
How could we challenge it?
His second contention is 'prejudice' to Ballymore if we win the case as it will, he claims, cause them a lot of damage. As they have already gotten permission for Block A again, anyway, through the back door of a Dun Laoghair Rathdown application, and have announced their intention to apply to Wicklow for Block B, we're not at all sure who is the victim of prejudice here... The hearing on these two issues is scheduled for July 6.

15/06/2026

Calling all Gaeilgeoirs out there... We have been discussing how to translate SaveBray into Irish. Yes, 'Sábháil Bré' might do it, but only in the singular: addressing more than one person we'd have to use 'Sábháilaigi', would we not? ...And Bré is simply not as beautiful as Brí Chualann, the name some of us learned at primary school fadó, fadó for our beloved town.

If we were to stick with Brí Chualann, despite this report of September 17th, 1925 – The Irish Times
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/september-17th-1925-1.602466 and similar discussions, would it be permissible to move away from the direct translation 'Sábháil' altogether to 'Brí Chualann Abú' or 'Brí Chualann Breá' instead as our rallying cry? Advice, le bhur thoil!

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Bray changed its name to the Irish form Bri Chualann after independence but the local urban council decided…

12/06/2026

On Wednesday, an interesting report was published on the RTE website, along with a segment from the RTE radio program "Ireland Mornings" about coastal erosion.
Flooding is becoming one of the most visible signs of climate change in Ireland, yet our response still assumes communities can always be defended in place:
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2026/0610/1557370-ireland-flooding-extreme-weather-communities-relocation/
A report by RTE's Environment Correspondent, George Lee, on Wednesday's Morning Ireland - https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/morning-ireland/episodes/11801046 (the clip starts at 4.47 mins) addresses the same danger. Quoting from a paper commissioned by the Climate Change Advisory Council from UCG, the paper says that "the scale of the threat of coastal erosion in Ireland is immense", and warns of the increasing need for relocation of homes and infrastructure - and the dangers of doing nothing. It concludes: "Investing in adaptation now will ultimately cost far less than the economic and social damage caused by doing nothing." Wicklow County Council should listen.

11/06/2026

SaveBray is looking for a musician to play for just a couple of ceili dances at a fund-raising scoraíocht in The Well (opposite the Royal Hotel) in Bray on Saturday, July 18th. Are there any box and/or fiddle players out there who would be willing to help us out on the night? Please?!
The craic will be 90 - some céilí, some singing, and, of course, a cúpla focail from beginners to advanced. You don't have to be a famous musician to play for us - but you will be after a night in Brí Chualann!
We are crediting McNeal Music for the photo.

06/06/2026

Ballymore should seriously consider entering Come Dancing, with An Coimisiun Pleanala as its partner as their ability to sidestep planning law is remarkable.
First, they circumvent the Justification Test for building on floodplains by building from the high ground down. Now our planning authority has turned down a very legitimate appeal by a Sea Gardens resident, based on broken promises by the developer, for 159 apartments on the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown side of the old Bray Golf course - see https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2026/06/06/ballymore-granted-permission-to-build-159-new-homes-at-former-bray-golf-club/
And what are Ballymore waltzing around this time? Well, there's a small matter of a Judicial Review - a very expensive Judicial Review - taken by SaveBray with the support of our community - which will be heard in the High Court on the 17th of this month. It concerns an application by Ballymore for Phase 1b of their development to build Block A (in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown) & Block B (in Wicklow), both of which had been refused in their first application. While both sides (the planning Board and Ballymore vs us) were putting forward their arguments, Ballymore took advantage of a change in planning from very large planning applications going direct to An Coimisiun Pleanala to reverting to the local planning authority as before. They applied directly to DLR for Block A, without waiting for a Court decision on their previous application. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown granted it.
Their decision was appealed by one of the Sea Garden residents (who pointed out that this is beautiful Bray, not Benidorm), but the planning board sided with Ballymore - while fighting a court case for a similarly named block of apartments in exactly the same place... You couldn't make it up.
Let's hope the same Board's delay in making a decision on Ballymore's disastrous Phase 2 application, while turning down other developments at the same time because Bray's LAP is out of date, is not significant.

‘This is beautiful Bray not Benidorm,’ states appeal rejected by An Coimisiún Pleanála

06/06/2026

We're taking a break from our Quiz during the summer holidays.
The answer to the previous quiz questions is:
b) 150-300 mm (6 inches to 1 foot).
Just 150 mm (6 inches) of fast-moving water is enough to knock an adult off their feet.
And 300 mm (12 inches) of moving water can carry away most small cars.

03/06/2026

Phase 2 decision has been delayed again due to "the complexity of the case". How complex can a decision be as to whether a developer can put the only open space he has promised on a Flood Zone B, while openly stating that he then intends to put high density development on a floodplain? SWAP!!!

30/05/2026

Our weekly quiz

30/05/2026

The answer to the previous quiz question is: Eliza had 11 brothers.

23/05/2026

A new quiz question📝
The answer to the previous question is: Upper Dargle Road.