Residents and councillors in south Co Dublin have expressed concern that planning permission for a major 569-apartment complex may be taken out of the hands of the local planning authority, D·n Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
Merrion Property Group has applied for planning permission for one of the county's largest residential schemes in recent years on the former Bank of Ireland staff sports grounds at Mount Anville.
The site, at Knockrabo, is bordered by Mount Anville Road and the Salamanca, Salzburg and Heidelberg estates. A road reservation for the St Helen's Link Road - part of a proposed link from the M50 to the proposed Eastern By-pass, also borders the site.
Locals have objected to the density of the development which includes the demolition of part of Cedarwood House and its conversion to apartments. New apartment blocks in a range of heights rising to seven storeys are proposed along with residential facilities such as a gymnasium. The development is to be served by three entrances from Mount Anville Road and one from Heidelberg.
The planning application was in four parts and accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment.
The area contains many large country-style homes on large grounds which, as this column reported recently, are increasingly subject to planning applications for higher densities in line with the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area.
Members of local residents' associations have complained that the density is unacceptable. They were incensed when, at a recent meeting of the planning authority, officials suggested an outright refusal of planning permission for the grounds, which are zoned for recreational use in the D·n Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan, would leave the council liable to a claim for compensation. Clarification of the legal advice relating to that possibility was being sought from D·Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council this week.
Fine Gael councillor, Olivia Mitchell TD, told the last meeting of D·n Laoghaire Rathdown County Council that the four "major planning applications" were causing great local anxiety. "Any application on this scale which is for 569 high-rise units in an already heavily traffic congested area like Mount Anville Road is bound to give rise to misgivings amongst local residents," she told The Irish Times after the meeting.
However, as the Opposition front-bench spokeswoman on housing, she was most concerned that the council was "considering this application at all as the land in question is still zoned for recreational use". Ms Mitchell said a number of nearby sites had been rezoned for high-density housing development through a council vote effecting a material contravention of the County Development Plan, but this route was apparently not being considered in this case.
"Apparently, although the primary zoning is recreational, other uses, such as residential, may be 'open for consideration'," said Ms Mitchell.However, she maintained this provision was "for once-off exceptions and in my experience has never been used to facilitate developments on anything like this scale". Ms Mitchell and other members of the council are concerned that if the application is refused, an appeal to An Bord Pleanβla may see the development being given the green light. "It questions the role of the planning authority," she said.
This is because the board is required to have consideration of policy, in effect the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area, which encourage higher densities, particularly along public transport corridors.
The issue has created much confusion locally with residents questioning the value of the Development Plan versus the Strategic Planning guidelines.
At the time of going to press, The Irish Times was unable to contact a spokesman for the Merrion Property Group but a spokesman for D·n Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council's planning department said the application was recently the subject of a request for additional information and that no decision had yet been taken.
