Bike shed in front garden ‘detrimental’ to Victorian home setting, planners rule

An Bord Pleanála has refused permission for a Clontarf couple to retain a bike storage unit in their front garden, saying it would be “detrimental to the setting of the protected structure”.

In 2021, Vanessa Pearse and her husband Brian Delaney had installed a unit that fits four bikes at the front of their Victorian home. They said they did not realise planning permission was required for the small shed at the time of installation.

The couple received a warning letter from the council after a planning complaint was made to the local authority. In January 2022, they applied for retention of the structure, but were later refused. The couple appealed the council’s decision to An Bord Pleanála in April 2022.

They received a decision on the appeal on Monday, more than a year after it was lodged, which refused retention permission.

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“The retention of this unsympathetic intervention within the front curtilage of a protected structure would constitute a visually discordant feature that would be detrimental to the setting of the protected structure as well as to the amenity of adjoining protected structures and the local streetscape,” the decision said.

“The development proposed for retention would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.

The planning board said it did not accept the inspector’s recommendations to grant permission, stating “the board did not agree with the inspector that the bicycle store does not compromise the setting of the protected structure”.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Ms Pearse said she had been resigned to the fact the appeal was likely to be unsuccessful.

“To be perfectly honest, I didn’t expect anything different. The inspector was [in support] of it. I was going to landscape it anyway. There is just no joined-up thinking,” she said.

“Other houses can keep all the dustbins they like in their garden, but we can’t have a small bike storage unit. We need to start thinking ahead, we have to plan for the future. We’re not in the Victorian times any more.”

Currently, the family have to bring their bikes through the house each time they use them. Ms Pearse said if there is an appetite to increase cycling as a mode of transport in Ireland, there needs to be infrastructure and amenities to support it.

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“For those of us in terraced houses, do you want to go down a dark lane at night? Do you want your kids to go down a dark lane at night to put away their bikes? We have had bikes stolen from there as well, even though they were tied to a U-bar,” she said. “The reality is [planning permission] shouldn’t be required.”