Planning permission refused for 1,000 homes in north Dublin

Bord Pleanála ruled development planned for Baldoyle was excessive in scale and bulk

Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for more than 1,000 homes planned for Baldoyle in north Dublin. The appeals board refused permission for strategic housing development (SHD) plans by Lismore Homes Ltd for 1,007 apartments after concluding that the scheme would result in an excessive scale, bulk, and massing at the interface with a greenbelt.

As part of its refusal the board ruled the north Dublin scheme was not justified due to the height and density of the scheme located to the northwest of Baldoyle village and 6km southeast of Dublin Airport.

Lismore Homes planned to build 16 blocks between four and 12 storeys on the Stapolin site which is also located 250m 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 Bord Pleanála.

In a separate reason for refusal the appeals board pointed out that the Fingal County Development Plan required 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 was not satisfied that the scheme met this objective. As a result the appeals board said that the scheme contravened the development plan concerning the provision of open space.

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The appeals board also said the scheme would be deficient in terms of architectural design and would constitute an inappropriate overdevelopment of the site. It found 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 a strategic housing development planned for north Dublin, Bord Pleanála refused planning permission to Breffni Asset Holdings Ltd for 173 residential units for Coolquay Common, The Ward, on a site near the Co Meath border.

In its decision 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”.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times