336 official objections to proposed development in Mount Merrion

When we mentioned last week that a proposed development on the site of a car wash on Braemor Road might be the most contested planning application in south Dublin this year, it didn’t take long for a reader to contact the Block and set things straight.

It turns out that that particular prize may well go to the good burghers of Mount Merrion who have recently managed to muster no less than 336 official objections to Paddy McKillen jr and Matt Ryan's plans for their Union Café site on the former site of Kiely's pub.

The pair opened Union Café in December as a restaurant/ deli/grocers/wine shop. Within months, longer term plans were unveiled by Oakmount Development to build about 70 apartments on the site while retail units would be retained at ground floor level. Rising to five storeys there is local concern that the plan is over ambitious for the needs of the area and would be an overdevelopment of the site. Local Fine Gael councillor Niall Saul is embracing the cause and has added his voice to the objections on the grounds of height, density, traffic, drainage, you name it. At a cost of €20 a pop to lodge a planning objection it would appear Mount Merrion residents are prepared to put their money where their mouths are – to the tune of €6,720.

It will be interesting to see what the planners come back with in the face of such strident organised objection.