Plans submitted for residential development in Douglas area

DEVELOPERS behind a planned residential development in the Douglas area have returned with fresh plans to increase the number of units.

Rubellite Ltd was granted conditional planning permission back in 2020 for the construction of 13 units at Ard Na Gaoithe on South Douglas Rd.

The site is situated between Loretto Park to the north and Heatherton Park and the Green Hills Estate to the south.

In 2022, the applicants returned to Cork City Council seeking permission to increase the number of units to 24, but the council turned down the plans, saying it considered that the proposed development “by reason of its scale, layout and design would constitute an excessive density and an inappropriate scale of urban form of development, which would be out of character with the established residential character of the area”. 

Rubellite Ltd has now submitted a fresh planning application, this time seeking permission to increase the development to 21 units.

The plans, if approved, would see the construction of two apartment blocks and a two-storey, three-bed detached house.

One apartment block would be three-storeys in height containing four one-bed apartments and four two-bed duplex apartments, while the second block would provide six two-bed duplex apartments. 

The development would also include car parking, bicycle parking, footpaths and walkways, landscaping and other associated site development works.

A design statement submitted with the 2023 planning application contends that the proposed development “is designed to be sustainable, creating a high quality place and spaces” and that the number of units is “within the limits of what is considered as Low-Rise Medium Density Housing”.

A decision on the application is due at the end of next month.