PLANS FOR a major apartment development in Central Park at Leopardstown Road, Dublin 18, have been turned down by An Bord Pleanála.

Clyde Road Partnership, a consortium headed by the financier Derek Quinlan, had appealed against the refusal of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to grant permission for 273 apartments, three retail units, a crèche and leisure centre on the land at Rocklands.

The homes were to be in six blocks ranging from eight to 22 storeys plus two podium levels for retail use. Two basement levels were to provide parking for 343 cars.

The board said that the development – by reason of its design, height, scale and the abrupt transition between the buildings, the M50 and the adjoining lands of Leopardstown Park Hospital – would be visually obstructive and seriously injure the visual amenities of residential areas to the south-west.

It would also be visually obtrusive and overbearing when viewed from the grounds of the school and would result in overshadowing of the school grounds and buildings.

The board also complained that because of the proposed project’s height, excessive density and layout, the development would cause overshadowing and adverse wind impacts, and it would also result in a poor quality and inadequate provision of private and public space.

It would, therefore, fail to provide an acceptable residential environment for future occupiers and be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

Another reason advanced by the board was that the extra road traffic likely to result from the development and other prospective developments could not be facilitated on the road network.