Plans for sheltered housing development in Blackpool to proceed

A PLANNING application for a residential development in Blackpool, designed to be used as sheltered housing, has been green-lit by Cork City Council.

Last November, Summertime Developments Ltd lodged the application seeking permission from the local authority to develop 18 units at 95 Gerald Griffin St.

Located to the rear of Neptune Stadium, the site is understood to have had a former industrial use. It is currently vacant.

The planning statement submitted with the application said the proposed development would see the existing buildings on site retained and converted and new infill buildings constructed.

The residential units, it said, have been “designed to suit a use as sheltered housing”.

The site comprises a three-storey warehouse building fronting onto Gerald Griffin St with a two-storey outbuilding to the rear.

The planning statement argued that the existing buildings, whilst in poor condition, “contribute to the architectural character of the area” and the applicants therefore proposed to retain both structures.

Summertime Developments Ltd proposed to convert the warehouse building into three apartments over three levels and convert the outbuilding into a bin and bike storage area on the ground level with storage rooms on the upper floor.

It said the other residential units would be constructed in two new blocks.

Cork City Council required some further information before making a decision on the application, which resulted in some modifications to the proposals.

Among the points raised by the local authority was a concern that the four-storey element of the eastern residential block, containing one of the units, unit 18 – would have an “overbearing impact on the existing adjoining property to the north”.

As a result, unit 18 has been omitted from the revised plans, with that element of the development reduced to three storeys.

The council has now approved the proposed development subject to 23 conditions.