Council approves plan for 21-unit development

DEVELOPERS behind a proposed residential development in Douglas who returned with fresh plans to increase the number of units have been given the green light.

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

The site is 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”.

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

Twenty of those units were to be developed in two apartment blocks.

The application also sought permission for the construction of a two-storey, three-bed detached house.

It said 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 contended that the proposed development was “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”.

Cork City Council sought some further information, before making a decision on the application, but ultimately approved the development.

There are 32 conditions attached to the council’s decision.