'Santa Maria without its gardens like Philip Treacy without his hats'

An Bord Pleanála has received 11 appeals to Otranto Properties' proposal for a residential development in the grounds of Santa Maria, a protected structure on Cunningham Road, Dalkey.

Wesley Curran's Otranto paid €10 million last year for the house and was granted planning permission by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to build 24 houses and apartments on a 1.45-acre portion of the two-acre grounds of the protected Victorian house.

One of the appellants, Dalkey Community Council, says there are serious issues relating to access to the proposed development which would incorporate part of the garden of 13 Cunningham Road to form a new road from Cunningham Drive onto the site. Dalkey Community Council says the new road is situated at "a particularly steep section" of Cunningham Drive and presents a traffic hazard. It says the development will affect properties on Cunningham Drive in terms of noise and pollution during construction and loss of amenities and overlooking.

It also says it would alter the wooded nature of the site and have an adverse impact on surrounding residential development in terms of loss of screening and the visual backdrop to residential properties when viewed from Cunningham Road, Cunningham Drive and Ulverton Road.

Planning consultant, Dr Diarmuid Ó'Gráda, says the residents of Cunningham Drive are concerned that seven houses will be built too close to them with consequent overshadowing, disturbance and loss of privacy.

He says the scattering of buildings does not consider the heritage of the site and a proposed terrace of houses would close off vistas. The rear garden of Santa Maria contains decorative terraces, borders, paths and an octagonal pavilion. "Santa Maria without its gardens would be like Philip Treacy without his hats," says the appeal.

The remainder of appeals are mostly from residents of Cunningham Road and Drive.

Santa Maria has sea views and is within walking distance of Dalkey village. Playwright Hugh Leonard's father worked as a gardener on the estate which was formerly known as Enderly and owned by the Jacobs, a prominent Quaker family. Couturier Marjorie Boland bought it after the second World War and changed the name to Santa Maria. It was bought by the Kennedy family in 1958.

Santa Maria is one of a number of large houses in the area that have been snapped up by developers as residential sites. Many have proven controversial with locals who see these infill developments as encroachment on the area.