Council raises grave concerns about Raheny development

Dublin City Council has raised “grave concerns” over plans for almost 400 houses and apartments on former religious order lands adjoining St Anne’s Park in Raheny.

Developers Greg Kavanagh and Pat Crean last November sought permission to build 107 houses and 274 apartments on former playing fields of St Paul's College.

Close to 300 objections have been lodged against the scheme, with most local politicians and election candidates opposing the development.

The council has now ordered the developers to make significant changes to the scheme, including scrapping two of the six blocks of apartments and redesigning others that had the potential to “create areas of anti-social behaviour”.

It has also expressed concern about the loss of the existing sports facilities and the quality of life of future residents.

The council will not consider the current application and has given the developers six months to resubmit their plans.

Playing fields

Mr Crean and Mr Kavanagh, who describes himself as “the Ronaldo of the property market”, last year bought 15 acres of land, part of the playing fields of the school, from the Vincentian Order.

As part of the deal the developers agreed to provide the school with new sports facilities including a Croke Park-size all- weather floodlit pitch, an all- weather floodlit training pitch and a new multi-use indoor sports centre.

However, the council said it had “grave concerns” about these facilities and their effect on future residents in terms of noise and light pollution. “The pitch would be floodlit with six floodlights 18 metres in height. The front elevations of the houses would be located 18.4 metres from the pitch fence and lighting poles,” it said.

The developers were also required to provide replacement sporting facilities for nonschool users of the old pitches, the council said, and it queried how Clontarf GAA club would be accommodated, given the “current lack of capacity for GAA in St Anne’s Park”.

The council also said the new school sports facilities could not be considered as satisfying the public open space requirements of the development.

However, the strongest concerns were expressed over the quality of the proposed apartment blocks. The layout of the houses and apartments was unacceptable and needed to be reviewed in its entirety, the council said. Two of the five-storey apartment blocks needed to be omitted and two more were excessive in length and had archways with the potential to create areas of anti-social behaviour.

Development sites

Mr Kavanagh and Mr Crean, funded by London-based hedge fund M&G Investments, have spent more than €300 million buying development sites in Dublin in recent years, largely at the bottom of the property market. They have applications on hand to build more than 1,500 homes around the city and county, which would make them one of the capital’s largest housing developers.