Plans afoot for more than six dozen homes near Blarney

A planning application seeking permission to construct more than six dozen homes near Blarney has been lodged with Cork City Council.

Kevin McDonnell and Paul Coburn have applied for permission to develop 73 residential units at a site address of Dromin, Cloghroe, Tower.

The units would be made up of five detached five-bed dwellings, 15 detached four-bed dwellings, 50 semi-detached three-bed dwellings and three terraced three-bed dwellings.

The application also seeks permission for an upgrade of the existing access to the site from the R579, flood mitigation works which include works to the R579, culverting of existing streams, landscaping works, public lighting and all associated site works.

Two car parking spaces would be provided per dwelling under the proposals, along with additional visitor car spaces.

The subject site is located in the townland of Dromin, approximately 4km west of Blarney.

It is currently formed of greenfield land and is predominantly bounded by sites of a similar nature.

There have been two previous applications associated with the proposed development, one in 2018 and the other in 2020.

In a planning statement prepared by McCutcheon Halley Chartered Planning Consultants on behalf of the applicants, it says that the proposed development is “relatively unchanged from the previous applications made on the site” although “key documents have been updated to the latest design requirements”.

Both applications were approved at local authority level but later faced third party appeals and were refused planning by An Bord Pleanála.

The planning statement says that the previous applications were refused at appeal stage “due to the impact of flooding” and that under the current proposals, the flood risk strategy has been amended.

“As noted within the appeal decision on both applications, the proposed flood risk is key to the acceptability of the scheme.

“We have gone through extensive consultation with city council engineers and have amended the flood risk strategy from the previous applications to ensure the proposed flood risk strategy is robust and does not have a negative impact on the surrounding properties,” the planning statement says.

The proposed development would provide seven residential dwellings for Social and Affordable housing.

The planning statement says the site is “well serviced in terms of local amenities”, including the nearby Cloghroe National School, Saint Senan’s Catholic Church and local convenience retail at Cloghroe Stores.

A decision on the planning application is expected by January 6.