Planning permission refused for 1,007-unit housing development in north Dublin

Gordon Deegan

An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission to over 1,000 homes planned for Baldoyle, Dublin 13.

In response to Strategic Housing Development (SHD) plans by Lismore Homes Ltd for 1,007 apartments, the appeals board has refused planning permission after concluding the scheme would result in an excessive scale, bulk, and massing at the interface with a greenbelt.

As part of its comprehensive refusal, the appeals board has ruled that the north Dublin scheme is not justified due to the planned height and density of the scheme located to the north west of Baldoyle village, 6km south east of Dublin airport.

Lismore Homes planned to construct 16 blocks in four to 12 storeys in height on the Stapolin site which is also located 250 metres from the Dublin-Belfast railway line.

The proposed scheme was to integrate with permitted housing schemes in the area, with an overall total of 2,202 residential units approved by An Bord Pleanála.

In a separate reason for refusal, the appeals board pointed out that the Fingal County Development Plan requires that a minimum 10 per cent of a proposed development site area be designed for use as open space.

The appeals board stated that, based on information submitted, it is not satisfied that the scheme meets this objective.

As a result, the appeals board concluded that the scheme contravenes the Fingal County Development Plan concerning the provision of open space to serve new developments.

'Inappropriate overdevelopment'

The appeals board also refused planning permission after concluding that the scheme would be deficient in terms of architectural design and would constitute an inappropriate overdevelopment of the site.

The board found that the scheme would not provide an acceptable contribution to place-making and not respond appropriately to the surrounding environment.

In a separate planning refusal to an SHD planned for north Dublin, An Bord Pleanála has also refused permission to Breffni Asset Holdings Ltd for 173 residential units for Coolquay Common, The Ward on a site near the Meath border.

In refusing planning permission, the appeals board had regard to the Rural Settlement Strategy of the Fingal Development Plan, which states that future growth in commuter villages including Coolquay should be curtailed or safeguarded so that they do not act as a catalyst to facilitate unsustainable growth patterns.

The scheme faced local opposition and the board also refused planning permission after stating that a 6km-long sewerage pipe required to serve the development “is excessive and cannot be justified having regard to the existing population and the sustainable growth envisaged for the village”.