Charlesland Grove - Greystones

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davco23

Guest
Hi,
Has anyone any feedback / opinions on Charlesland Grove in Greystones?
Have put a deposit down and bought off plans (3 Bed Semi) and was wondering what Charlesland / Greystones is like as an area.. Have spent some afternoons down there and it seems great - just wondering if anyone has experienced the other side of the coin?
Thanks.
 
Greystones

Just the same environmental and social problems associated with gross profiteering by developers who like to paint a cottage image of building a development in the middle of no where with a housing density on a par with a city location such as Crumlin where they provide nothing towards social, educational, cultural or infrastructure facilities. I'm sorry but these people don't care how hard you have to work to pay them for such crap.
 
Re: Greystones

Thanks Sumatra,
While I share your opinion of large developments with no infrastructure, this one has creche, shopping centre, and a business complex within the development. There will be a link road to the N11 and its a 10 minute walk away from the DART, so its not in the middle of nowhere at all.
The question I was asking is what is greystones like as a place to live. Has anyone any experience of actually living there?
Thanks.
 
An opinion on Charlsland

There will be a link road to the N11 - one day. Yes they will build the road so they can build more houses but it won't actually link to the N11 because there is wrangling over who will fund the interchange and earliest estimates put a possible commencement date of 2008. (you know what that means)

The DART is more than a 10 min walk away and with an adult return fare of €6.40 to the city most will use their cars and this additional traffic will clog up the only access which is by inadequate minor roads. One small development in the Greystones area has 11 houses on an acre each, now the children have grown there are 33 cars. Apply the same to this development..

Some first time buyers have been asked to pay an extra €15k for the additional value afforded by a distant view of the sea but do they know that will all change when the golf course is built on?

Charlsland is a high density development with a few thousand units which is out of proportion to any of the other larger developments in the Greystones area. Shortage of land just doesn't wash.

To me infrastructure is more than a crèche and a small Superquinn. What is the point of building an estate the size of a town with nothing in it? No open spaces, no parks? What about educational and recreational facilities? What about the other social basics, even basics such as a post office, doctors or a community centre?

As a Greystones community we are still trying to raise funds ourselves by door to door collections for a community centre. If developers wish to list proposed facilities in their marketing bumf to help sell their property then they should be made contribute a portion of their profit towards the educational and social requirements of the community they themselves are creating.

Look at the development and forget the glossy marketing material you may have read and even tell me that you can see great use made of the architectural opportunities afforded by such a location? All I can see great profit opportunities availed of but little else.

The only desirable aspect for most can only be the address because when you look at the plans and think through the facts there can be no other attraction.
 
An opinion on Charlsland

Hi davco23,
I presume you're talking about the big huge development half way between kilcoole and greystones?
Charlesland reminds me of when the build hundreds of houses in Lucan a few yrs ago. When you're in the place everywhere you look there is new houses!
I agree with Sumatra in that it is more than a ten minute walk from Dart. I'd say its at least 30 min walk.
I reckon its incorrect to say its in Greystones. Its on greenfield site half way between kilcoole and greystones.
So you're not really living in greystones.
As regards living in greystones, I think the quality of life there has dropped over the years. It used to be a quiet seaside village. Now its a sprawling suburb with traffic jams everytime you drive down the main street. Its also got more difficult trying to park your car.
 
Re: An opinion on Charlsland

Daveco,

Don't mind those curmudgeons Sumatra and Agencycontractor :D

I moved into Greystones / Delgany last year and think it's the best move ever. Greystones is a lovely town (reminds me of Dalkey a lot) with a very friendly atmosphere that is refreshing in this day and age and with an excellent community spirit. Considering the prices and location of new developments elsewhere in Sth Co Dublin / Nrth Wicklow I think that Greystones is very good value.

Yes it does have issues - The Charlesland development is huge compared to existing developments around Greystones and probably shouldn't have been allowed go ahead in it's current form, yes the DART is expensive and not very frequent or reliable and yes the increase in traffic is unwelcome and the local roads are not designed to accommodate it properly.

However, if we all only bought houses in properly planned, serviced and located developments there would be a lot of people waiting for houses !!

Sumatra et al. I don't think that you are giving Daveco a balanced view on life in Greystones - it's hardly his fault that Wicklow Co Co designated Greystones / Delgany as a high growth area in Wicklow - but it must have some good points if you live there.

Yes, Yes I know I'm just a blow in and what do I know and you should have seen it 15 years ago (I did!) and it was so much nicer etc etc.

My point is given the choices available to buyers of reasonably priced (ie between €200,000 and €400,000) new 2/3 bedroom houses elsewhere in the conurbation of Dublin I think that Daveco has made a good choice by buying in Charlesland.

Anyway that's my two cent

efm
 
Re: An opinion on Charlsland

"However, if we all only bought houses in properly planned, serviced and located developments there would be a lot of people waiting for houses !!"

Its not that all of a sudden they had an unexpected flood of refugees pouring into Greystones over Bray head!

Although the haphazard way in which the county development plan was tweaked you would think they really were caught unawares.

They had planned for orderly development through the county development plan yonks ago now they have switched to 3000 units of high density residential units which they are building quicker than battery hens can lay eggs.

Its only high density because its become high profit and persons of influence tweaked the development plan accordingly.

"yes the increase in traffic is unwelcome and the local roads are not designed to accommodate it properly."

Traffic - well that's Dick Roche's colicy baby now. Hopefully he doesn't expect taxpayers to pay for the N11 interchange although I believe they may have to foot the bill of cleaning up the illegal dump along the way on Charlsland's road to nowhere.

Charlesland is a town itself - a suburb of Greystones. There is Greystones and there is greystones just like there is Delgany and delgany. Its also a particularly good spot for BBC Radio 4 reception so that's a good point isn't it?

"reasonably priced"

Overpriced in my book.

Planning mistakes have been made elsewhere and replicated here in Charlsland. So nothing has been learnt.
 
Thanks for the feedback all, very informative.
Seems like the only option for most ftb`s these days is to buy in developments such as these, but after looking in dublin north and west, I would put Charlelsand at the top of the list for properties that offer good location and relative value for money.
Sumatra, keep me in the loop regarding the community center - would like to get involved.
 
...

"Seems like the only option for most ftb`s these days is to buy in developments such as these" - now that stamp duty has been eliminated on houses less than 317.5k would a second-hand house be an option for you?

Advantages are that you could probably buy a 2nd hand house nearer to the city than a new one (though obviously the size of the house you could get depends on the area) which is better if you are looking to commute and have a social life that is Dublin-based, and, IMHO, houses were built to a much better standard in days gone by than the current 'bare minimum' approach as mentioned by many, many, unsatisfied buyers of new homes on this forum.
 
..........

We can all be thankful out here that Dick Roche is at our service!

Imagine a group that can spend over €15 million of tax payers money just thinking and supposing what they are going to do about an interchange. They know they need it but they can't agree. As someone else said imagine what better use money like that could be put to?

They just create sprawl which creates congestion. Its like a game of chess with some politicians. Create a problem so you can solve it at an opportune future date.

We need more people like you out here davco23 you'll obviously be a very welcome addition to the community.
 
davco23 said:
Hi,
Has anyone any feedback / opinions on Charlesland Grove in Greystones?
Have put a deposit down and bought off plans (3 Bed Semi) and was wondering what Charlesland / Greystones is like as an area.. Have spent some afternoons down there and it seems great - just wondering if anyone has experienced the other side of the coin?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Look, my girlfriend and I have been living here over a year now, and yes it does have its problems. For a start, get used to kids running all over the place, in your front garden and staring into your property. We feel like animals in a Zoo, the way people walk past and blatantly stare in at you and don't even try to hide it. There is no privacy. Parking is a nightmare especially if you have more than one car for your allocated one space. Families beware, drivers do not slow up, they speed up and down the green so please keep an eye on your nearest and dearest. Greystones itself, is a nightmare for driving, just try going there when the trains come in the evening, I could quite easliy kill some people, who cannot drive, do not say thank you to giving way to them, and blatantly ignore the rules of the road. Its a 25 minute walk to the DART, I do it every morning. The free bus is there if you would rather use that. The small superquinns is run by snotty nosed teenagers, and managed by one too by all accounts. So good luck if you really are thinking of moving here. And make sure the snagging list on the property is completed, our place looked like if fell off the production line when we moved in!!!
 
Just to give a different perspective to the previous poster, I've also been living in Charlesland for over a year now but absolutely love it! We were living in the city centre before and find it really peaceful out here in comparison, yes it's a large development but I have to say, we don't feel it around our area, maybe we're lucky to be in a quiet part! I think the construction quality can vary too depending on which part you're in but we're in the Park and are very happy generally with the building standards - surprising in a new build, I know! There were outstanding snags when we moved in (aren't there always??!!) but the builders were very quick to respond to any phone calls and sort them out.

We love Greystones as well, feel it's the best of both worlds as you're close to the sea and mountains in a town with a lovely atmosphere but still less than an hour from Dublin city centre.
 
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