The Rail Procurement Agency (RPA) is looking at three options for a possible extension of the Luas green line from Bride's Glen near Cherrywood, running through Rathmichael, Shankill and Old Connaught and terminating at Fassaroe, west of Bray town centre.

All three proposed routes slice through the Bray Emmets club state-ofthe-art football pitches at Old Connaught Avenue.

"We have almost 1,000 members in this club. We have 34 teams and we have 250 kids under eight years old out here every Saturday morning. We haven't even finished painting our new clubhouse. Now, without any consultation, we've been told the new Luas line is going to run through our grounds, " says club spokesman Paul Cunningham.

The 17.5-acre site is owned by Wicklow GAA county board, with the Emmets club holding a user's lease. The club raised over 1m in voluntary contributions to develop the land and build the clubhouse.

"We have the backing of local politicians and we're determined to fight this.

There are enough alternative options open to the RPA. Eventually they'll have to agree to alter the route and move around our ground."

All three proposed routes run through undeveloped land at the foothills of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, terminating at Fassaroe, approximately one mile west of Bray town centre.

"The main effect of the proposals as they stand will be to open up agricultural and amenity land along the route for high density development, " claims local Green party councillor Deirdre de Burca.

Route Option One would see the line run in a south-easterly direction along the western side of the M50 and then M11 motorways as far as Wilford and then turning west to run through lands at Old Connaught and Fassaroe.

Route Option Two would follow the route of the old Harcourt Street rail alignment, crossing the M11 by bridge and then running south on a course parallel with that mapped out for option one.

Route Option Three also follows the route of the old Harcourt Street railway but goes under the motorway and continues along the railway alignment through Shankill and Corke Abbey.

It then turns westward across Wilford roundabout and continues south along the eastern side of the M11.

If construction goes ahead the new line should be operational by 2015.

"Good public transport planning would suggest that the ideal route for a rapid transit link like the Luas is through existing high-density population centres and also that the issue of connectivity . . . in this instance linking with the Dart and mainland rail facility . . . should be of paramount importance, " says de Burca.

"Instead the new line will bypass the existing 40,000-strong population of Bray, and as well as the proposed 2bn commercial and residential development at the golf club lands, which is believed to be the largest development of its kind in the Republic and which could in the future be home to a further 30,000 people."

Liz McManus, local TD and deputy leader of the Labour party, says it "would be a terrible opportunity missed" if the new Luas line and the existing rail line aren't connected.

"One proposal is to have a connection with the Dart and a new railway station at Corke Abbey. I think that is crucial.

What we really have to do is to ensure that things are connected."

Other local objectors say locating the terminus at Fassaroe will force Bray people to rely on private transport to access employment and commercial centres at Cherrywood, Sandyford and Dundrum.

The 2bn scheme planned for the golf club site will include 50,000 square metres of shops, an eight-screen cinema, 12 bars, restaurants and cafes, a 103-bedroom hotel, 347 apartments and duplexes, 5,500 square metres of offices, creches, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, and 3,090 underground car parking spaces.

An appeal against the scheme, lodged with An Bord Pleanala by developers of the rival Florentine shopping development planned for the town centre, will be heard soon.

"RPA officials have told me that Wicklow county council and Bray town council have indicated that the developer who owns the land at Fassaroe is willing to pay development levies to have the Luas extended and that the developers of the golf club lands have no intention of doing so and that therefore the councils are proposing Fassaroe as the terminus for the extension, " says de Burca.

She claims "conflicting signals" from individual town and county councillors indicated a high level of opposition among public representatives to the proposed routes.

Meanwhile the RPA has reassured locals that no final decision has been arrived at regarding the exact route the new Luas line will take and that submissions from the public will be accepted until the end of October.

At a recent meeting of the Bray area committee of Wicklow county council, RPA spokesman Tom Manning said he wanted to reassure Bray Emmets that "the last thing we want to do is to take on a local club". He assured councillors that no route would be advanced before consultations with Emmets club officials.

Regarding the possibility of a link with the Dart line, Manning said the RPA was still looking at several different options.