A NEW town is to be built on Poolbeg peninsula by Dublin city council, turning acres of Dublin Bay wasteland into an integrated community with its own ecology park.

The new district will cover a 7km (4.3-mile) stretch of Dublin 4. It will run along South Bank — the planners’ new name for part of the peninsula — Sean Moore Road, and the rest of Poolbeg, with 3,000 residential units and more than 100,000 sq ft of offices.

The ambitious plan, which will cost €300m to build but will be worth €1.5 billion when complete, is likely to be controversial. Local groups and politicians are already predicting widespread opposition when the blueprint is presented for public consultation this week.

Frances Corr of the Bath Avenue and District Residents’ Association (BADRA) said: “It’s total waffle. This isn’t a plan, it’s a concept, and the council has run away with itself without taking into account the need for proper infrastructure or environmental repercussions. It is one huge waste of public money.”

Presentations were made to councillors and residents’ groups last Friday. The council says the development will be in three zones, with a new urban quarter on South Bank Avenue. Waste ground in Irishtown will become a landscaped ecology park, while the final zone is at Poolbeg lighthouse, the most remote location in the plan.

To increase visitors to this part of Dublin Bay, the council plans a culture park to include the 18th-century former passenger dock at Pigeon House harbour and a recreation area. The towering twin chimneys of Poolbeg power station will stay.

Dick Gleeson, the city planner, said: “This is an ambitious project and the public will have six weeks to respond. It is the first time the council has had an opportunity to take a holistic view of the peninsula and create a new urban character for the area.”

The decommissioned Irish Glass Bottle buildings, land owned by Dublin Port, and sites belonging to Zoe developers are the main areas earmarked for housing. City officials said the project could take more than 10 years to complete.

John Fitzgerald, the Dublin city manager, said: “These areas have to be carefully planned so that the old blends in with the new. We have to make it easy and attractive to existing communities, and to people who will live and work there. It is another way of creating accommodation in a city where the population continues to grow. Population forecast shows that 1.7m people will live in Dublin by 2011.”

Last year the council shortlisted two companies to build a €350m incinerator at nearby Ringsend. Opponents of this project include Michael McDowell, the justice minister, who is a TD for the Dublin South East constituency.

Residents’ associations in Dublin 4 say the Poolbeg project could pose health and safety risks because the area includes a former landfill site.

Corr said: “A dump was closed on this site 30 years ago but there is no mention of this in the plan. The incinerator that caused so much concern has also been omitted. This is a project for developers, not locals.”

Residents intend to submit a report on the environmental impact of the proposals to the council within the six-week public consultation period.

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