Mount Merrion residents face further planning woes

The woes of the residents of Mount Merrion, Co Dublin continue with the planning approval for 63 residential units (including two four-storey apartment blocks) on a 1.1 hectare site to be accessed via Cherrygarth, adjacent to grounds at Oatlands College.

The application by Balark Investments, a company associated with serial developer Greg Kavanagh, follows the purchase in January of a modest house in Cherrygarth for a premium price of €3.75 million because of its access potential to the proposed development.

It adds further insult to injury for local residents already up in arms about a proposal by Paddy McKillen jnr and Matt Ryan to develop a five-storey block of apartments on the former Kiely’s of Mount Merrion site, where the pair’s Union Café is currently located.

A total of 336 objections have been lodged in recent weeks to that development.

But for every suburban cloud there's a political silver lining. And there has been a clamour from local representatives jostling to spearhead the residents' cause. A meeting of Mount Merrion Residents' Association last week was convened with the support of local Fine Gael councillor Barry Saul, while Josepha Madigan TD, Catherine Martin TD and Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross have all weighed in to fight the proposal. Ross of course played the trump publicity card this week when he chimed in on a statement from Dún Laoghaire Rathdown independent councillor Deirdre Donnelly expressing grave concern over child protection in the area on foot of the development's approval. A more substantive point Ms Donnelly raises is that in the pre-planning report, the developers had sought just 23 units per hectare. "The response from DLRCC was to increase the density to 60 units per hectare, thereby creating 63 more apartments and houses in an already over-developed residential area. Questions need to be asked about how they arrive at these decisions," Ms Donnelly said.

“The succession of planning encroachments in Mount Merrion bodes ill for the future of the area. The needs of developers are taking precedence over the lifestyles of long-time residents,” Ross added. Fair enough, but the planners are also tasked with taking into account the future needs of an area where there’s a strong cohort of ageing residents struggling with substantial family homes and keen to downsize in the suburb.