Planned development in Stillorgan rejected

Residents in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, have welcomed a decision by An Bord Pleanála to reject an application for a 15-storey development in their area.

The planning board has turned down the application from developers Ciarán and Colum Butler to replace the Stillorgan Bowl Leisureplex with a residential development incorporating a 15-storey tower.

The scheme included 314 apartments, a library, commercial and retail space and a new Leisureplex and gym in 15 blocks.

The 1.59-hectare (four-acre) site, bounded by Lower Kilmacud Road, the N11, Old Dublin Road and St Laurence's Park, includes some council-owned land, which was the subject of a sale agreement between the developers and the council. Eighteen local authority houses on St Laurence's Park were to be demolished.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council had earlier approved the development, but the board ruled it would be premature pending the adoption of a local area plan for Stillorgan, for which the council has begun preparation.

The board also ruled that it would seriously injure the area's amenities and would result in a substandard form of development providing a "poor standard of residential amenity for future occupants in terms of daylight, overshadowing and deficient in terms of public and private amenity open space".

It was also considered contrary to the County Development Plan because of its "excessive scale, bulk and height".

A spokeswoman for the Stillorgan District Community and Residents Alliance said the Leisureplex decision was emphatic.

"People are overjoyed, the decision left no room for the developers to move around," she said. "It vindicated everything we said about the development, it was atrocious."