SUPPORTERS of a controversial high-rise development in Ballsbridge claim there is no planning justification for refusing the 37-storey building proposed by property developer Seán Dunne.
The first day of an oral hearing of An Bord Pleanála (ABP) into the project has heard how the planned 132-metre tower containing 182 apartments would not contravene the 2005-2011 development plan of Dublin City Council.
Town planner Tom Phillips, who represents 45 parties who support the project, claimed yesterday that An Bord Pleanála had the power to grant planning permission for the proposed development on the site of the former Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels in Ballsbridge because it was a project of “national, strategic importance”.
Mr Phillips said the mixed residential, commercial and cultural development would also create more than 5,000 permanent jobs as well as 970 full-time jobs during the construction phase.
The ABP hearing is being held after the planning authority received a record 126 appeals in the case.
Some 90 submissions were in favour of the project and included submissions from Gate Theatre director, Michael Colgan, RTÉ presenter and PR consultant Bill O’Herlihy and local GAA team Clanna Gael Fontenoy.
There were 36 objections to the proposed development including appeals by 11 local resident groups, An Taisce and the financier, Dermot Desmond.
In 2005, Mr Dunne’s firm, Mountbrook Homes paid €379 million for the site — €54m per acre a record price for land in Ireland at the time — which he hoped would help transform the upmarket suburb into “Dublin’s Knightsbridge”.
Although Dublin City Council granted planning permission for the majority of the development last March, it rejected the landmark 37-storey centrepiece on grounds of excessive height. Three apartment blocks on Lansdowne Road were also reduced from 11 to nine storeys. However, the local authority approved the development of 294 apartments, a 232-bedroom hotel, a shopping centre, embassy buildings, a cultural centre and creche.
Mr Dunne has stated no development will take place on the site unless he gets the green light for the high-rise tower which will be called One Berkeley Court.
However, a spokesperson for 11 resident groups from the Ballsbridge area said: “We find ourselves in an extraordinary situation where the management and planners at Dublin City Council have ignored provisions of the Dublin City development plan and numerous Department of the Environment guidelines to accommodate developer aspirations.”
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
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