Planning application for more than 70 homes near Blarney is rejected

A PLANNING application seeking permission to construct more than six dozen homes near Blarney has been turned down by Cork City Council.

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

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

The subject site is located in the townland of Dromin, approximately 4km west of Blarney and is currently formed of greenfield land.

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

A planning statement submitted with the application said that the proposed development was “relatively unchanged from the previous applications made on the site” although “key documents” had 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 submitted with the application lodged last year said that the previous applications were refused at appeal stage “due to the impact of flooding” and that, under the most recent proposals, the flood risk strategy had been amended.

“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 said.

Cork City Council had sought further information before making a decision on the application.

Included in the Request for Further Information (RFI) the council said its drainage section had identified a “significant number of areas” which either remained to be addressed or required further design development and detailing.

A number of submissions had also been made before Cork City Council made a decision on the application.

The local authority ultimately stated that it was not satisfied on the basis of the information lodged with the planning application, and subsequent further information, “that the proposed development has met the criteria required to pass the OPW Justification Test for development management; specifically in relation to the issues of responsibility for future maintenance of the proposed flood defence measures, and the potential for increased onsite and offsite flood levels”.