Town Centres: Plans for a proposed town centre in Lucan-Clondalkin have been reduced in bulk to stand a better chance of getting permission from the appeals board. Jack Fagan, Property Editor, reports
Treasury Holdings has scaled back its plans for a town centre for Lucan-Clondalkin at Balgaddy following a decision by An Bord Pleanála last October that the site is "generally suitable" for the development.
The board had sought changes in the scheme before making a final ruling on the appeal by Treasury against the refusal of South Dublin Co Council to grant permission for a major town centre.
Balgaddy was designated for such a scheme as far back as 1972 but the planners subsequently made a highly controversial decision to allow Liffey Valley shopping centre to proceed at Quarryvale. That decision is now one of the issues being investigated by the Mahon Tribunal.
The county council, committed to the development of Liffey Valley as an alternative town centre because it is a fait accompli, refused Treasury Holdings permission for the Balgaddy site.
Treasury's success at An Bord Pleanála took most people by surprise, no one more so than the Duke of Westminster whose Grosvenor Holdings and partner Owen O'Callaghan are joint owners of Liffey Valley.
They have had to defer plans for a doubling of Liffey Valley until the Mahon Tribunal publishes its report.
The long running saga has been complicated by the board's ruling that Balgaddy is after all a "generally suitable" site on which to develop the Lucan-Clondalkin town centre, including the quantum of retail space proposed.
According to the appeals board, Balgaddy is the right site for such a development, given its "central location" in relation to development in the greater Lucan-Clondalkin area, its proximity to the Dublin-Cork railwlay line and the provisions of strategic and retail planning guidelines.
Treasury has now reduced the overall size of the proposed development from 130,129 sq m (1,400,700 sq ft) to 113,463 sq m (1,221,300 sq ft) to meet objections from the board.
A podium format has been dropped and the size of the various elements of the scheme have been cut back. The number of residential units has been reduced from 1,029 to 557; student housing has been eliminated; offices have been cut from 16,926 sq m (182,190 sq ft) to 6,900 sq m (74,271 sq ft) and a dedicated multi-purpose community facility will now include a gym, 10-screen cineplex and a range of support and commercial facilities.
The developers have also offered to meet "the reasonable costs" of construction of a railway station which can function as the heart of a district multi-mode node.
More than three years ago, An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for a scheme that would have doubled the size of Liffey Valley primarily because of fears that it would lead to further congestion on the M50.
The council has decided that it should not proceed with a proposal to rezone Liffey Valley as a "major town centre" until the Mahon Tribunal has reported, possibly in about three years.
