‘Chopped’ facing flagship closure over planning row

Freshly Chopped is facing closure of one of its flagship outlets after it was refused retention planning permission for its branch on Dublin’s Grafton St. The salad bar/healthy eating retail chain could now be the subject of enforcement action by Dublin city council if it continues to keep the store open. It follows a ruling by An Bord Pleanála which upheld the original decision of the council to refuse planning permission for the change of use of the building from a newsagents to a delicatessen as well as for a new shopfront. The board rejected the appeal by Freshly Chopped despite the company’s warning that over 600 jobs across its entire chain of 45 stores could be under threat if it was forced to close its Grafton St branch. It accused the local authority of not facing up to “real world” issues by denying it retrospective planning permission.

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Nama not hoarding land with residential planning permission, CEO says

The head of the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) has denied claims that they are hoarding land. CEO of Nama Brendan McDonagh was speaking before the Public Account's Committee this morning. He said that the recent public and media discussion on housing has been over simplistic and that as soon as land becomes available and is commercially viable then Nama will act.

"There seems to be a widespread but voracious assumption that any land with residential planning permission which is not actually being developed is, therefore, being hoarded. I can only speak on behalf of Nama but the point applies to others also," he said. "The reality is if you cannot fund a residential site if it is not commercially viable. Does that mean we are supporting hoarding of land? We are not. "I assure you that as soon as a site becomes commercially viable there is no hesitation on Nama's part to fund its development."

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Things are looking up in Cork as planning granted for Ireland's tallest tower

Full planning permission has been secured this week for a €140m residential development of 413 homes, to include a tower of 25 storeys, at Cork’s Jacob’s Island, near Mahon Point and the Jack Lynch Tunnel. Approved by An Bord Pleanála under the Government’s ‘fast-track’ Strategic Housing Development (SHD), the development proposes 413 apartments, in six blocks ranging from six to 25 storeys, and which, if built shortly, would be the country’s tallest tower. The application was made in July 2018 by O’Mahony Pike Architects and HWP planning consultants with a decision expected by the end of October. The planning green light was nearly three weeks ahead of that date.

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