Residents oppose plan for 493-apartment scheme in Blackrock

Residents are opposing "fast track" plans by co-owners of the Press Up Hospitality Group, Paddy McKillen Jnr and Matthew Ryan, for a €200 million 493-unit apartment scheme on a site near Blackrock in south Dublin.

In December the businessmen's Oval Target Ltd lodged plans to An Bord Pleanála for the 11-block scheme, with one block rising to 10 storeys, on lands at St Teresa's, Temple Hill, Monkstown, Blackrock.

The 493 apartments are to comprise 220 one-bedroom units, 208 two-bedroom units, 47 three-bedroom units and 18 studio units on a site within one kilometre of Blackrock village.

As part of the proposal the company has put an indicative price tag of €19.99 million on the sale of 50 apartments to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for social housing as part of the firm’s Part V social housing obligations – or fractionally under an average unit price of €400,000.

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Oval Target previously secured planning permission for 291 residential units on the same site in the face of some local opposition. That permission remains in place.

In total, 41 objections have been lodged with An Bord Pleanála against the new scheme, including a number of group objections.

The residents of St Vincent’s Park say that both the density and building heights proposed in the plans exceed the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Plan “to an unacceptable level”.

“This extra density and the increase in building heights, particularly along Temple Road, will significantly diminish the residential suburban character of the neighbourhood,” they say.

The residents’ group also argues that “the proposed mix of unit sizes will not provide a basis for a sustainable community”.

Local residents Feargal de Freine and Fiona O’Sullivan contend that the scheme “is a high-rise development with a significant number of studio and one-bed apartments and is not conducive to the building of a stable long-term community in the area” and will “fundamentally change the social fabric of this area”.

A group objection has also been lodged on behalf of 34 residents of Avondale Court.

Aideen Goggin and James Nohilly employed planning consultancy BPS Planning Consultants to lodge an objection that runs to 52 pages.

In it BPS says the scheme should be refused on 12 separate grounds, including that the extent of negative visual overbearing and overlooking of the couple’s property “would be profound and remove all privacy from our client’s family. This is not a fair and balanced proposal.”