Appeals board urged to allow ‘modest’ Seán FitzPatrick dwelling

A planning expert has appealed to An Bord Pleanála to grant planning permission for former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick's 'modest' two-storey four-bedroom house on a site outside Greystones in Co Wicklow.

In a 14-page planning appeal, Kevin Hughes, planning consultant for Seán and Caitríona FitzPatrick, has described a refusal reason put forward by Wicklow County Council concerning the planned dwelling as "entirely disingenuous and wholly at odds with national planning policy".

In the formal appeal against the council’s refusal, Mr Hughes has described the planned FitzPatrick four-bedroom house as  “a high-quality and modest addition to the immediate area”.

In September, the council refused planning permission to the couple for the house at Meadow Garden, Farm Lane in the Old Burnaby area of Greystones.

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The proposed home would lie adjacent to a site where the FitzPatricks secured planning permission in the face of local opposition for a four-bedroom home last December. This is at the Meadow Garden site which lies close to Greystones Golf Club.

Overturned

The FitzPatricks secured planning permission for that house only after An Bord Pleanála last December overturned the council decision to refuse planning permission.

In the appeal, Mr Hughes of Hughes Planning & Development Consultants states that the fact that Wicklow County Council had previously granted permission for contemporary infill development on a site 50m east of the subject site means the refusal decision by the council refusal “is unsubstantiated”.

The council also refused planning permission after concluding that the proposed development to be contrary to maintaining the traditional sylvan nature of the wider Burnaby Architectural Conservation Area due to the location and size of the application site and the scale, design and form of the proposed dwelling.

However, in response, Mr Hughes noted: “We would consider the refusal reason issued by the planning authority to be entirely disingenuous and wholly at odds with national planning policy.”

The council refused planning permission after local residents voiced opposition against the scheme. A decision is due on the appeal in February.