Planning sector active for time of year

An Taisce and the Green Party have expressed disappointment at the unusually high number of significant planning decisions - including approval for the demolition and rebuilding of Dundrum Shopping Centre - made between July 28th and August 1st.

They claimed that the holiday season may have caused some people to miss the decisions, which also included approval for redevelopment works at Leopardstown Racecourse.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council decided to grant permission for the construction of a 55,000-square metre complex to replace Dundrum Shopping Centre.

It also received an application for changes to 15 planning permits already granted for the separate Dundrum Towncentre development on the former Pye Lands. The Towncentre proposals allow for the conservation of the List 2 building known as the Mill House and the List 2 Millpond.

The new Dundrum Shopping Centre and the proposed Towncentre, which would be linked by walkways, would make up one of the largest urban retail centres in the Republic.

The shopping centre replacement is to be built on a site bounded by Dundrum Main Street, Ballinteer Road, and the extension of the Main Street to the Dundrum Relief Road.

The development would include three main department stores, a convenience food shop and 76 retail units with restaurants and/or leisure units including family entertainment centres, café bars, cyber cafés and theme restaurants.

The link to the Towncentre development would be along a new public pedestrian street and open spaces behind Glenville Terrace and Holy Cross Church, overlooking the Dundrum Relief Road and the new Sweetmount public park. The development would include a new public pedestrian bridge over the relief road, otherwise known as the Dundrum bypass.

Mr John Ducie of An Taisce said that all this amounted to a large body of planning activity, but that the organisation had usually experienced similar bursts of activity around Christmas time, not in the summer.

"Perhaps the planners have time to catch up at these times of the year," he commented. He added that An Taisce had a vibrant local organisation in south Dublin and would be keeping the public informed of developments.

The Green Party TD for Dún Laoghaire, Mr Ciarán Cuffe, told The Irish Times that his party would be disappointed if anyone failed to be aware of the activity due to holiday commitments.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council also approved an apartment block in a scheme of aparthotel rooms totalling 8,759 square metres at Rocklands, Leopardstown Road, Dublin 18. The block, called Block F, is to replace a previously approved block which, the application said, was part of a development rising to 11 storeys.

Meanwhile, An Bord Pleanála also announced a new date for its decision on an appeal against plans to redevelop Stillorgan Shopping Centre. The proposal includes the demolition of the existing centre, which dates from the early 1960s and was the Republic's first US-style drive-in shopping centre.

The four-storey, double-basement development covers almost 60,000 square metres.

The board also announced it had granted planning permission for redevelopment works at Leopardstown Racecourse, including a new entrance at the controversial Carrickmines interchange and the relocation of the sprint racetrack. The 10-year permission also covers a replacement stable complex; a maintenance depot; a replacement golf clubhouse including a 65-bay golf driving range, and a 220-space car park.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council also received a planning application for the refurbishment and extension of the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire.

The extension would see the 108-bedroom hotel - a protected structure - rise to seven storeys in part to accommodate a total of 237 bedrooms.

The development, which fronts on to Haigh Terrace, Marine Road, Queen's Road and George's Street Upper, would also include commercial units, a swimming pool with leisure centre and treatment rooms. The bandstand would be relocated.