140 homes to be builtbeside Usher gardens

An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for a housing estate of 139 properties on a site bordering the famed Mount Usher gardens in Ashford, Co Wicklow. This is against the recommendation of its own inspector.

The planning board upheld the decision by Wicklow County Council to grant permission for the development - the first phase of a 500-unit scheme - despite appeals from local residents, including the owners of Mount Usher gardens, who claimed it would threaten the future of the gardens.

The board also rejected the recommendation of its planning inspector who held that permission for the development on a 200-acre site at Inchinappa, which includes a historic house, should be refused.

The development, applied for by Brian Stokes, owner of the Inchinappa estate, includes a mix of two and three-storey houses of up to five bedrooms with 114 parking spaces and a creche with an extra 11 parking spaces.

In his report, the inspector, Ruairí Somers, said the local sewage-treatment plant at Ashford was overloaded and the development would be "prejudicial to public health and contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".

He said the developer had not provided sufficient information on the impact of the development on the historically-designed landscape, and the development would "adversely affect the character and setting of the protected structure [Inchinappa House]."

It also contravened policies set out in the Wicklow development plan, and "by itself and the precedent it would set for similar such development, would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".

Mr Somers also found that the type and layout of the houses, which was uniform and rigid, would "seriously injure the visual amenities of the area".

However Bord Pleanála decided to grant permission.

It said the inspector's recommendations in relation to the sewage-treatment concerns and the impact on the visual and historic amenities in the area could be dealt with by attaching conditions to the planning permission.

It also said the layout and type of houses were appropriate.

The board attached 27 conditions to the permission, including the omission of 11 houses.

It also requires a contract for the upgrading of the sewage- pumping station to be signed before development can start.

The Jay family, which owns Mount Usher gardens, had submitted that the development would have a "seriously detrimental" effect on the gardens which could result in their closure with the loss of 10 jobs and 25,000 tourist visitors to Ashford.

Madeline Jay said yesterday that she just received the decision and felt unprepared to comment fully.

However it was "extraordinary" that the development had ever been given planning permission.