Planning permission for almost 50 homes in Cork town refused following objections

PLANNING permission for 49 residential units in Passage West has been refused following an appeal and report by An Bord Pleanála.

The proposed development comprised of 20 detached and semi-detached 3 bed houses, and 29 apartments across three blocks comprising of six 1-bed units, 21 2-bed units and two 3-bed units.

Over 80 submissions were made to the planning permission, with a huge number of residents in the locality objecting to the development.

Independent councillor for Carrigaline, Cllr. Marcia D'Alton was among those who submitted an objection, where she noted that she lived right beside the proposed development, in Pembroke Wood, where the majority of the residents who objected also resided.

She wrote “The hill south of Pembroke Wood is a rare and precious feature within the Passage West town boundary.

“Visible from the designated scenic route along the R610 and from the waters of Cork Harbour, it is a valuable landscape feature.

“As an emerging woodland, it is a valuable repository of biodiversity, with a species richness which has visibly changed as the habitat developed during the past twenty years.

“Given these multiple sensitivities, it is especially galling that clearly virtually no effort was made during the preparation of this planning application to genuinely engage with the site, with the Pembroke area or with the town of Passage West.” 

Though it was noted that the development would not lead to the spread of invasive species, habitat loss and fragmentation, or impact the overall water quality status of Cork harbour, Senior Planning Inspector Stephanie Farrington ruled that the proposed development would “seriously injure the residential and visual amenities of the area.” 

She wrote that the houses and apartments “would be visually discordant and incongruous” in the landscape and would be out of character with the existing residential estate to the north of the site.

Due to the proximity to the existing houses, the design and height of the proposed apartment blocks and the extent of vegetation removal proposed, she also wrote that the development would have an “unnecessarily severe impact upon the residential amenities of the area by reason of overlooking, loss of privacy, overbearance and undue disturbance.” 

The proposed development is also located in an area zoned 'Green Infrastructure' as set out in the County Development Plan, which states that the land has a specific objective for open space with views overlooking Cork Harbour.

The zoning law also seeks to retain and protect these areas for their landscape, amenity or nature conservation value, and Ms Farrinton ruled that the development “would erode the nature conservation function of the site and be detrimental to the landscape character.”