Bord rejects major mixed-use development in centre of Dunshaughlin

An Bord Pleanála has rejected a proposal by Cusack Homes for a retail, office and residential development in Dunshaughlin town centre in Co Meath.

In overturning Meath County Council's decision to grant permission, the planning board said the design and scale of the proposed development "would not sufficiently respect the setting in the centre of Dunshaughlin".

Cusack Homes was looking to build 110 apartments, 20 retail units and a mezzanine level food court on a site to the west of the main street which includes Gogans pub.

The eastern part of the site fronting Main Street would have provided a new pedestrian street leading into the site flanked by commercial developments including retail, offices, restaurants, a pub, leisure centre and crèche. The new pedestrian street would lead to an anchor supermarket.

The development was opposed by Greenane Residents Association who said the developer has inadequate title to a strip of land, between Greenane and the site, which was proposed for pedestrian access.

They said the plan would give the town an excessive level of retail which could not be sustained by the local population. Paul Healy, the owner of the local Supervalu supermarket, said that the proposed development featured "poorly proportioned buildings with significant gaps in the street frontage" and said the proposed supermarket building would present "a long inanimate frontage".

An Bord Pleanála ruled that the design of the residential units at the western and southern edge of the site, "many of which effectively constitute family houses, is unsatisfactory in that properties are essentially single aspect. This form of development would provide a poor quality of amenity for future residents."