Ballyogan and Environs LAP

It is proposed to prepare a Local Area Plan (LAP) for Ballyogan and Environs, an area covering Ballyogan, Kilgobbin, The Gallops/Glencairn (Leopardstown) and parts of Carrickmines and Stepaside. An LAP is a land use planning tool that guides the development of an area by way of policies and objectives.

In advance of preparing a draft LAP, DLRCC is engaging in public consultation, to help determine the planning issues the LAP should address. DLRCC is seeking views of individuals and organisations with an interest in the area. Submissions may be made online or by post any time up to 5pm on Thursday 24th May by clicking this Make a Submission link. This link also contains details of Public Information Meetings.

To help inform this consultation, the DLRCC Planning Department has prepared a Story Map, which provides a context for the area by way of online interactive maps and images, and an Issues Paper which pulls together baseline information by way of a study of various planning themes relevant to the area. Just click on the links.

You are invited to consider these in advance of making your observation, as they may help in framing your submission. Printed copies of the Issues Paper are available for inspection at the County Council offices in Dun Laoghaire and Dundrum, and at all DLR libraries. Link to DLRCC website here. If you need help making a submission contact bps here.

Work at Dún Laoghaire Baths to begin as contract finally signed

Work on the re-development of Dún Laoghaire’s derelict baths site is to begin as soon as possible. Contracts were formally signed on the 10th April by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. The planned programme of works was initially expected to cost €2.5 million but the cost is expected to substantially higher given additional engineering works required to secure the road and retaining walls between the DART line and the site.

The new Dún Laoghaire Baths, which has been designed by dlr Architects' Department (details here), will see a new public café linked to an outdoor terrace with views over the Bay, along with studio workspaces for artists and new life guard facilities. New public toilet facilities at street level will be fully accessible for the mobility impaired and a new jetty and changing areas will provide access to the water's edge for swimmers and landing points for canoes, kayaks and other water sports equipment.

The development will take approximately 22 months to complete and will open to the public in the spring of 2020. The new Dún Laoghaire Baths will be a long-term, public amenity for the area and county. It will provide not only a connection between Newtownsmith and the People's Park, but will also bring link the town of Dún Laoghaire with its seafront. The project will breathe new life into the seafront and will attract more visitors to Dún Laoghaire town.

Link to DLRCC website here.

Plan to close Merrion Gates to build the Sandymount to Blackrock cycle path may be deferred

A €48 million plan to close Dublin’s Merrion Gates level crossing to traffic and build a cycle path from Sandymount to Blackrock is in disarray, almost 18 months after first being proposed. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has said it can find no “viable alternative” to the construction of a two-way traffic flyover between Strand Road and Merrion Road in Dublin 4, a proposal which has been strongly opposed in the surrounding area. The NTA is now considering splitting the project to allow the section of cycle track south of the Merrion Gates to progress, while deferring the controversial flyover and gates closure. A committee of councillors from Dublin city and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown will be convened in the coming weeks to consider the move.

Read the article @ The Irish Times

An Bord Pleanála has granted a mixed use scheme of 179 student flats, 103 apartments, a retail unit and community sports hall at former Blakes and Esmond Motors Site, Lower Kilmacud Road

An Bord Pleanála has granted permission for the proposed mixed use development comprising of 179 no. student accommodation units (576 no. bed spaces), 103 no. residential apartment units, retail unit, community sports hall and all associated site works at former Blakes and Esmond Motors Site, Lower Kilmacud Road, Stillorgan Road (N11) and The Hill, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin. The application was made under section 4 of the Planning andDevelopment (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016. The application was submitted to An Bord Pleanála on 20th December 2017 by Cairn Homes Properties Limited and decided on 16th March 2018. This was in advance of the target decide by date of 19th April 2018.  The application process included a period of public consultation and followed completion of a pre-application consultation with An Bord Pleanála and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

Link to decision here.
Link to project documentation here.

Indoor ’sky-diving facility’ part of new Dublin neighbourhood centre

A major planning application for a “neighbourhood centre” adjacent to the M50 at Carrickmines in south County Dublin includes “an indoor sky-diving arena”. But local politicians have criticised plans by developer Iput to satisfy its Part V social housing obligations by offering the local authority 13 apartments for social housing at average cost of more than €500,000 each. The €75 million proposal, from one of the State’s largest property vehicles, covers land in an undeveloped area of Carrickmines retail park bordering Ballyogan Road, adjacent to Junction 15 on the M50.

Read the full article @ The Irish Times

Gilmore built on site he had probed as a councillor

TANAISTE Eamon Gilmore asked a series of official planning questions when he was a county councillor about a site he later bought and on which he built his family home, the Irish Independent has learned.

This was despite previous planning rulings, which found that the site at Corbawn Close in Shankill, Co Dublin, was "unsuitable" for a house.

Mr Gilmore also initiated legal proceedings against one neighbour who objected to his application.

The replies to his planning queries suggested that an application for a two-storey house might at that point be looked upon favourably.

He and his wife Carol Hanney subsequently applied for -- and were granted -- permission for a two-storey house, where they still live.

A number of years earlier, an application for a two-storey house had been refused on the basis that the site was unsuitable for the building of any house.

Mr Gilmore said the questions were publicly available and insisted that his application had been made in the normal way.

The 1994 planning application, lodged when he was months away from becoming a junior minister, was granted by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and approved by An Bord Pleanala.

Developer

Mr Gilmore was a Dun Laoghaire councillor for the Workers' Party on the now-defunct Dublin County Council in the late 1980s and asked a series of questions about the Shankill site between then and the early 1990s.

The application says Mr Gilmore entered into a contract to buy the site and the sale was finalised in 1995.

Mr Gilmore was elected to the council in 1985. At the time, he was living in a smaller house in the Corbawn Close estate.

At a meeting of a housing and planning district sub-committee in April 1987, he asked "what consideration has been given . . . to the various options regarding the site".

He was told:

?That it was possible an application for "a two-storey dwelling might not give rise to the same volume of objection as the proposal for the bungalow".

?That the site was "not considered suitable for use as public open space".

?That it "has been examined by the derelict sites section but it is not considered to be derelict".

At a meeting of the district sub-committee in July 1987, Mr Gilmore asked "what arrangements, if any, were made with the developer . . . and what consideration was given to the future of that site?"

He was told by the council that the "dimensions of the site . . . suggest that a two-storey dwelling could be accommodated".

Mr Gilmore insists the replies to "these questions have always been public information and are available in the published minutes".

He added: "The abandoned condition of the site had been a matter of concern in the neighbourhood for some years and because of this I was asked by neighbours to raise questions about it."

Fiach Kelly Political Correspondent
Irish Independent

www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie

Council rejects plans for crematorium and graveyard

PLANS FOR a graveyard and crematorium close to the Dublin Mountains have been rejected.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said the proposed Kiltiernan Burial Ground and Crematorium Park on the Ballycorus Road would be in breach of zoning.

The development, proposed by Hantise Ltd and Ashman Properties Ltd, had been the subject of more than 80 objections and 24 submissions of support.

Issues raised included concerns about emissions from the cremators and their effects on health, the impact of traffic and the effect of the development on the Loughlinstown river.

The development, on the site of a former lead mine, could also release contaminants into the waterways, objectors said.

The plan had included a two-storey crematorium with a chapel and seating for 150 people, along with prayer rooms, a family room, an administrative office and two underground cremators.

A one-acre traditional graveyard was also part of the proposal as well as an urn and ash grave burial area, and a “garden reflection pavilion” with 10ft “remembrance walls”.

The council said the site of the proposed development was located in an area zoned to protect and improve rural amenity and to provide for the development of agriculture, which did not allow for the land to be used for a crematorium.

It also said the applicant had not submitted sufficient information regarding drainage proposals for the proposed burial grounds.

“This should include a hydro-geological assessment to determine the risk assessment of the cumulative impact of the combined proposed traditional burial ground and proposed waste water treatment system on the environment and public health,” the council said. It is expected a revised proposal will be lodged for the site in the next few months.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Council rejects plans for crematorium and graveyard

PLANS FOR a graveyard and crematorium close to the Dublin Mountains have been rejected.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said the proposed Kiltiernan Burial Ground and Crematorium Park on the Ballycorus Road would be in breach of zoning.

The development, proposed by Hantise Ltd and Ashman Properties Ltd, had been the subject of more than 80 objections and 24 submissions of support.

Issues raised included concerns about emissions from the cremators and their effects on health, the impact of traffic and the effect of the development on the Loughlinstown river.

The development, on the site of a former lead mine, could also release contaminants into the waterways, objectors said.

The plan had included a two-storey crematorium with a chapel and seating for 150 people, along with prayer rooms, a family room, an administrative office and two underground cremators.

A one-acre traditional graveyard was also part of the proposal as well as an urn and ash grave burial area, and a “garden reflection pavilion” with 10ft “remembrance walls”.

The council said the site of the proposed development was located in an area zoned to protect and improve rural amenity and to provide for the development of agriculture, which did not allow for the land to be used for a crematorium.

It also said the applicant had not submitted sufficient information regarding drainage proposals for the proposed burial grounds.

“This should include a hydro-geological assessment to determine the risk assessment of the cumulative impact of the combined proposed traditional burial ground and proposed waste water treatment system on the environment and public health,” the council said. It is expected a revised proposal will be lodged for the site in the next few months.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Councillors to decide future of planned retirement home

A CONTROVERSIAL retirement village proposed for the foot of the Dublin mountains near Sandyford may be closer to development after a local authority meeting next week.

Councillors in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council are to consider a motion to amend the council’s county development plan specifically to allow for a nursing home on lands in a scenic location at Ticknock near Sandyford.

The Grange Retirement Village, on 16 acres of land zoned for agricultural development on the mountain side of the M50, would include residential accommodation, a nursing home, a stroke rehabilitation clinic and community and recreational facilities.

When the development, proposed by the landowner Rod McGovern, was initially discussed at council, on November 19th, 2009, it was rejected outright by councillors following a recommendation by county manager Owen Keegan.

However, a week later, on November 23rd, councillor Tom Joyce (FG) and councillor Tom Murphy (FF) proposed a specific local objective for the site to allow for the development and councillors from both parties voted for it.

The objective was ratified as part of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan 2010-2016 in March 2010.

It was believed planning permission for the retirement village could then be applied for.

However, planning consultants on behalf of the developer discovered a “technical hitch” in the zoning which meant that the objective alone was not enough to allow the development to be considered by the council’s planning department.

A variation to the development plan would be needed.

Councillor Neale Richmond (FG) and councillor Gearoid O’Keeffe (Ind) attempted to suspend standing orders at January’s council meeting to remedy the hitch. However, because they needed a two-thirds majority to suspend the meeting, their motion was rejected.

It is understood a variation to the county development plan will be proposed at the council meeting next week.

It will add a footnote to the definition of what development is allowed on land zoned agricultural so that the retirement village can be built at Ticknock.

It will be specific to the 16-acre site.

Cathaoirleach and councillor Lettie McCarthy (Lab) said the development was not suitable in “such an isolated area” and that there was enough zoned land elsewhere to support it.

“This is a prominent elevated site immediately adjoining a high amenity area,” she said.

The development would be visible from a wide area and would cause “serious injury to the rural character and visual amenity” of the area, she said.

But Mr O’Keeffe said the development would provide badly needed healthcare facilities for elderly people in the county, hundreds of building jobs at construction stage and long-term jobs when the facility was opened.

The variation will be debated at next week’s council meeting.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Council selling homes below cost on golf land

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council stands to lose millions when it sells apartments that it bought from developer Cosgraves at the height of the boom

SIXTY-THREE cut-price apartments go on sale from €136,000 today in Dún Laoghaire aimed at buyers on the affordable housing list and first-time buyers.

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (DLRCOCO) is taking a serious hit after agreeing to pay developer Cosgraves an average €250,000 – a price agreed in 2006, at the height of the boom – for the one and two-bedroom social and affordable apartments on the grounds of the former Dún Laoghaire Golf Club. It will lose 24 per cent or more on each affordable unit.

The apartments are being sold at prices from €136,000, by far the lowest in the area. Affordable buyers – those who are on the council’s affordable housing list – will get priority, but the units are also available on the open market at €170,000. First-time buyers will also get priority.

Two-beds will cost buyers on the council’s affordable list from €184,000, while open market buyers will pay from €230,000 for the same units. Lisney is handling the sales.

The council will allocate the remaining 80 apartments (of a total 143) in the circular complex – which faces onto a central courtyard with a small toddlers’ playground and a set of stairs leading to an underground car park – to people on its social housing list.

The scheme, called Honeypark, is the first phase of a large development planned by Cosgraves on the 78-acre golf club lands where it has permission to build a mix of 840 units. This phase is just beside the roundabout at the junction of Glenageary Road Upper and Kill Avenue.

It is coveniently located: Mounttown Road Lower runs straight down from the roundabout to the town of Dún Laoghaire while Oliver Plunkett Road leads from the roundabout to Monkstown Avenue. There is a 45A and 75 bus stop right at the gates, and the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) is nearby on Kill Avenue. A shuttle bus from the scheme to Dún Laoghaire Dart station is promised.

The Cosgrave Group plans to put houses in the scheme on sale in spring 2011. “We are immediately commencing our next phase of the development which will comprise a park, local retail centre and four and five-bedroom family homes, which we expect to launch in early spring,” Peter Cosgrave said yesterday. The company is in negotiations with an anchor tenant for the neighbourhood shopping centre to be built on Glenageary Road Upper near the Kill Avenue roundabout.

Five terraced townhouses beside the entrance to the scheme – they are on a road that will eventually extend right through it – will be finished by Christmas but are not yet for sale.

The apartments are in 10 adjacent four-storey “core blocks”, each core having between 12 and 16 apartments, its own entrance and its own lift to the basement. The units are a good size and come with patios at ground level or good-sized balconies above.

In the four affordable blocks, balconies are at the back, looking out over the tree-filled site stretching up towards Rochestown Avenue. (Many of the trees will presumably come down to make way for Honeypark’s expansion.)

The units are a decent size: one-bed apartments range from 48.3-59.5sq m (520-640sq ft), the two-beds from 71-764sq m (764-813sq ft). Good-sized entrance halls open into open-plan livingrooms where kitchens are at one side of the room. Appliances aren’t included but kitchens come with tiled counter-tops, a good range of cabinets and tiled floors. In the show units, the floors throughout are oak and doors are oak-veneer. Bathrooms have white sanitary ware, fully tiled floors, showers over baths. Main double bedrooms have a fitted wardrobe. In the hall, there are also shelved storage cupboards and more storage space in walk-in cupboards where heat exchange system units are housed.

Cosgraves is proud of its communal – although individually-controlled – gas-fired central heating /water heating system all generated from a modest-sized boiler in the underground car park.

It expects BER ratings of B1 to A3 and says that homeowners should have low heating bills, around €450 a year for one-beds to €600 for two-beds. (It bases this estimate on bills in another Cosgrave development, Landsdowne Gate; it expects bills in Honeypark will be 10 per cent cheaper, as it has perfected its heating systems. It also has a ventilation system removing stale air without opening windows through ceiling-mounted grilles .

Each apartment comes with a car-parking space.

The management fees are €1,456 for two-bedroom apartments and just over €1,000 for one-beds. A management company has been set up.

Purchasers who have been refused mortgage finance from lending agencies may qualify for the Council’s Home Purchase Loan scheme.

What's available and who can buy it

DÚN Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLRCOCO) has about 80 apartments for sale under its affordable housing scheme in eight different developments around the county, at prices ranging from €128,000 for one-beds in the Belfry and Belarmine in Stepaside, Co Dublin to €248,000 for a two-bed in Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford, Dublin 18. It has sold about 75 affordable homes so far this year.

These apartments are also for sale on the open market at prices around 20 per cent over those affordable prices. Lisney is handling all the sales for the council.

DLRCOCO currently has 1,900 people on its affordable housing list, and information about the 63 new apartments going on sale today at the Honeypark scheme has already been texted to them.

Roughly speaking, people earning less than €58,000 a year qualify to buy affordable housing in Dún Laoghaire – the rules governing eligibility for affordable housing vary from one local authority to another. In Dún Laoghaire, the rules take into account after-tax income and other individual factors.

If a property is sold within 20 years of buying it, DLRCOCO will clawback 20 per cent of the proceeeds – unless that brings the amount below the price paid.

DLRCOCO is committed to buying another 27 social and affordable units from Cosgrave Developments in this phase of the Honeypark scheme, but there’s no agreement yet on when they will be built or available.

An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for 848 houses and apartments to be built in the first phase of the development on this part of the site, the south side of Glenageary Road Upper, in 2008.

Another 20 per cent of the 605 houses and apartments to be built in the second phase of the Cosgrave scheme should be given to the council for social/affordable housing.

But although An Bord Pleanála gave the developer planning permission in August this year to build the second phase planned – on the north side of Glenageary Road Upper, closer to the town – it is likely to be a long time before anything is built there. In all, a total of 1,500 houses and apartments are planned on the golf club lands.

Under planning laws, developers must provide 20 per cent of any residential development to local authorities for social and affordable housing at a discount from market prices. But after the property crash, most local authorites found themselves with affordable homes that cost them more than the new lower market prices.

Golf green gives way to housing

THE redevelopment of the Dún Laoghaire Golf Club site has proved controversial since the Cosgrave Property Group bought it in 2002. From the beginning, many local residents opposed the plan to cover the 78-acre green space, bisected by Glenageary Road Upper, with housing.

But in 2002, golf club members agreed to sell the land in exchange for €20 million and a new course in Enniskerry.

The site – 47 acres on the south side of the road, where Honeypark has been built, and 31 on the north side bordered by Tivoli Road – was controversially rezoned in 2004 after then Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen issued a directive to the council to do so to provide extra housing. And permission was ultimately granted for around 1,400 houses and apartments, despite rows between locals in favour of the status quo and a council insisting that it had to provide for Dún Laoghaire’s future housing needs. The developer’s plans for the site also include a public park, green spaces and a creche.

Controversy continued this year, when mature trees on Glenageary Road Upper were cut down to make way for road widening for the new scheme. Right now, the junction with the Kill Avenue roundabout is a bewildering tangle of barriers and yield signs. But people wishing to view Honeypark will be able to drive in through a clearly marked entrance from today, says selling agent Lisney.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Council pursues builder over levies

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is pursuing businessmen Paddy Shovlin and hoteliers Patrick Fitzpatrick and Anthony Fitzpatrick for €12.8 million in alleged outstanding planning contributions related to the Beacon South Quarter development in Sandyford, Dublin.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly ruled today the council, in the manner of bringing its claim, had failed to show it had acted with the urgency required for the proceedings to be fast-tracked in the Commercial Court.

On that basis, he refused to transfer the case to the Commercial Court list, meaning it will have to proceed at a slower pace through the ordinary High Court list.

In seeking transfer, Aidan Redmond SC, for the council, said the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) had secured judgment over unpaid bank loans related to the Beacon development against the three defendants last week and it was against that background the matter was urgent.

Mr Shovlin previously acknowledged a liability before later disputing any personal liability by the defendants, he added.

Caroline Costello for the defendants, said the Council’s letter of demand was issued 11 months ago, the sum sought was later reduced and the managerial order giving the go-ahead for proceedings was issued just last June. The Council had failed to show the required urgency, she said.

The proceedings are against Mr Shovlin, Kerrymount Avenue, Foxrock, Co Dublin; Patrick Fitzpatrick, Dargle Lodge,

Cookstown Road, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow and Anthony Fitzpatrick, Treethorpe, Brennanstown Road, Cabinteely, Co Dublin.

The Council claims the three defendants traded as “Landmark Developments” which was engaged in the Beacon South Quarter development. In granting permissions for that development, the Council imposed conditions requiring the payment of contributions for public infrastructure and other facilities, including towards the cost of extending the Luas Line from Sandyford to Cherrywood.

The Beacon South Quarter development commenced in December 2004 and it was agreed, subject to various conditions, the defendants would pay the financial contributions via instalments to be paid upon the closing of sale of every 100 residential units and of every commercial unit, the Council claimed.

The defendants paid contributions totalling some €7.88 million between 2006 and 2009 but outstanding contributions amounted to some €12.5 million, it was alleged.

The court heard Mr Shovlin, in an affidavit sworn for a defence and counter-claim to proceedings by the Council in July before the Master of the High Court, had argued the development at Beacon South Quarter was carried out by Landmark Enterprises Ltd and, while the defendants were the owners of the lands, they were not the developer.

Mr Shovlin claimed Landmark was required by the Council to carry out very considerable works which were not conditions of the permissions granted and which resulted in a loss to the defendants. He claimed entitlement to set-off in that regard and also said Landmark could not complete the instalments due to the global financial crisis and the collapse in the Irish property market.

Development effectively ceased in April 2008, he said.

While he accepted no financial contributions were made since August 2009, it was apparent the council itself had had difficulty calculating exactly what was owed, Mr Shovlin said.

While he accepted he had sent an email in April last agreeing the total due for financial contributions was about €12.8 million, he said this was an approximate figure which had not been finalised and, for example, calculation related to car parking facilities was not agreed.

It was also important to note he accepted no liability for that sum either for himself or the other defendants, Mr Shovlin said. The borrowings were by Landmark, not the defendants, he said.

Last week, in the first court application of its type, Nama secured summary judgment for some €38.5 million against Mr Shovlin and for some €22 million each against the Fitzpatrick’s over unpaid loans to their companies by Bank of Ireland, including a €280 million loan to Landmark Enterprises for the Beacon South Quarter development.

On the same day, Ulster Bank secured a €6.4 million summary judgment order against Mr Shovlin and €3.27 million summary judgment against both Fitzpatricks.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Dún Laoghaire upgrade to include walkway over Dart

WORK HAS begun on a project to cover over the Dart line, install semi-mature trees and improve pedestrian access between Dún Laoghaire’s town and harbour.

Part of an overall upgrade to “the metals” walkway, Crofton Road and Marine Road, the Dart line is to be covered, ending a traditional disconnect between the Pavilion area and the harbour.

The plan is to create a new walkway over the Dart which currently travels through a cutting south of the railway station. The intention is to define the metals as a place for pedestrians and cyclists by creating new café terraces, paths, sitting areas and a small play space.

A new footpath along Queen’s Road and additional crossing points have been designed to integrate the scheme into the surrounding area. A pedestrian crossing at the entrance to the Pavilion car park is to further enhance pedestrian links to the the metals and a proposed county library in Moran Park.

The design provides for landscaping with trees, lighting and umbrellas along the length of the Pavilion. Outside Meadows and Byrne furniture shop, a new public space with a kiosk and public seating is proposed.

It is anticipated that this approach will create more shelter from the wind and will create a park ambience that reinforces the experience of the metals as a place to sit and relax, to enjoy coffee and food.

At Marine Road, it is proposed to create a tree-lined avenue leading up the hill to George’s Street. Pavements will be widened, crossing points will be more defined and new public lighting will create a “line of light” linking the harbour to the town.

Further trees will be installed on Crofton Road while a new pedestrian link through the harbour yard and the Old School House site will provide access to Sussex Street.

Enhanced facilities for cyclists are also planned with additional racks located throughout the scheme.

Minister of State with Responsibility for Planning Ciarán Cuffe said it was “vital that we create an inviting atmosphere for people arriving by Dart or ferry and help promote the local economy.

“The improvements to Crofton Road, the metals walkway and Marine Road will allow residents and visitors alike to enjoy the town’s spectacular harbour front and rich architectural heritage.”

He said many of the planned improvements reflected the views of local residents and business people, as expressed at the Vision for Dún Laoghaire forum he chaired in July.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Council faces huge glut of social and affordable housing

DÚN LAOGHAIRE-Rathdown County Council is facing a battle with developers to stop a €42 million bill for social and affordable housing from spiralling upwards by tens of millions.

The council has already agreed to pay Cosgrave Developments in the region of €42 million on completion of 170 social and affordable homes within a complex of 848 houses and apartments on the former Dún Laoghaire Golf Club lands.

The development, which was granted permission by An Bord Pleanála just over two years ago, was the first phase of the 1,500-unit residential scheme on the 78-acre site. The planning board yesterday granted permission for the second phase of the development – a further 605 apartments and houses.

The grant of permission leaves the council facing a further glut of social and affordable housing which it cannot afford to buy.

Under the Planning and Development Acts, developers must provide 20 per cent of any residential development to local authorities for social and affordable housing at a discount from market prices agreed after planning permission is granted but before the houses are built.

The scheme worked during the boom years where there were long waiting lists of first-time buyers eager to qualify for a lower cost home within a development and prices rose between the date permission was granted and the completion of construction.

However, with developers slashing their prices most local authorities have found themselves with affordable houses that are now more expensive than similar private houses and apartments.

In relation to phase one of the golf club scheme, the council agreed to pay an average of more than €250,000 each for apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms. While the council would face lower market values for the apartments than in mid-2008, it is still likely to be unwilling to spend more money for housing for which it has no demand. A spokeswoman for the council yesterday said negotiations with the developers would begin as soon as possible.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Development plan for golf club site given green light

AN BORD Pleanála has granted permission for more than 600 apartments and houses on the site of the former Dún Laoghaire Golf Club against the recommendation of its senior planning inspector.

The scheme of 28 houses and 577 apartments of up to seven storeys in height is the second phase of a 1,500- strong residential development on the 78-acre site bought by Cosgrave Developments eight years ago.

The board’s senior planning inspector, Dermot Kelly, who dealt with the case, had recommended against granting permission for the 605 units but his recommendation was overruled by the board.

In his report Mr Kelly had said the development should not go ahead because of the scale, height and density of the apartments proposed. He also cited concerns in relation to “project-splitting” and the decision of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to allow the scheme before a new local development plan could be prepared for the area.

The large proportion of apartments planned – more than 95 per cent of the scheme – constituted an “excessive concentration of apartments” on the site, Mr Kelly said.

The height and scale of the apartments were excessive and would result in overdevelopment of the site, and the large number of small apartments – 80 per cent of the units are either one or two-bedroom apartments – was “inappropriate” for the area, he said.

There was a proposed “Phase IIB” of 304 units on lands which were also within the site. Separating these applications constituted a form of project splitting which would constitute “unacceptable piecemeal development”, he said.

He also noted that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council intended to produce a local area plan for this part of the town, and that allowing this scheme in advance of this statutory plan being agreed by the council would be premature.

In deciding to reject Mr Kelly’s recommendation, the board said the proposed development was in line with the current zoning objectives and adhered to sustainability guidelines.

The need for efficient use of land justified a higher density of development at this location, and the high proportion of apartments in this phase of the development was considered acceptable, the board said.

The height of the proposed development was also “generally acceptable”.

The site was controversially rezoned for residential development by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in 2004 following the intervention of the then environment minister Martin Cullen.

Mr Cullen had used his powers under the 2000 Planning Act to direct the council to rezone more land for housing on foot of a recommendation by the then county manager, Derek Brady, who said county councillors had created a development plan which was “deficient” in meeting its housing objectives. The rezoning was strongly opposed by Dún Laoghaire residents and was only passed by a majority of one vote by the council.

Construction of the first phase of the scheme, some 848 apartments and houses began last year, and the first five houses are due to go on sale next month.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Council faces €42m bill for affordable homes in Dun Laoghaire

DÚN LAOGHAIRE Rathdown County Council faces a bill of €42 million upon completion of 170 social and affordable homes on the former Dún Laoghaire Golf Club lands.

The council has to pay Cosgrave Developments €35.6 million of the money owed when the first 143 social and affordable units are finished and handed over to the council later this year. The homes are being built on a corner of of the site, at the junction of Glenageary Road Upper and Kill Avenue. Cosgraves is one of the top 10 development companies whose loans have been transferred to Nama.

The agreement over pricing was made in June 2008 when planning permission for the scheme was granted by An Bord Pleanála.

The remaining proposed 27 units, made up of five social and 22 affordable units, will cost the council a further €7.3 million, if they are granted planning permission and built.

The amount owed to Cosgrave Developments was revealed at a council meeting on Monday in response to a question by independent councillor Victor Boyhan asking that a report on the cost of the units be provided.

In relation to the social units, the council has agreed to pay an average of €149,284 each for 20 one-bedroom units, €250,062 for 46 two-bedroom units and €310,480 for 19 three-beds.

For the affordable units, the 21 one-bedroom units were €178,490, the 62 two-beds were €293,109 and two three-beds were €310,480.

The council’s housing department has asked the Department of the Environment to fund the 85 social housing units in the scheme, for which the cost is over €20 million.

The council currently has 2,026 applicants on its affordable housing list, and says it is “optimistic” about selling on the units in the Cosgrave development to suitable applicants.

When asked how the council’s budget would be affected if there’s insufficient take-up of the units, a spokesperson from the council said “demand from applicants for affordable housing already provided in the Dún Laoghaire area has been high, therefore we are optimistic that there will be a demand for the apartments in the golf club development”. The council says it is anticipating capital expenditure of around €180 million in 2010, but says this figure is subject “to the availability of funding and/or the resolution of legal or other issues”.

Next week Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council plans to put 117 affordable units in Stepaside and Sandyford on the open market due to lack of interest from applicants on the affordable housing list. The acquisition cost of these units was €27.5 million.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Council's €27.5m properties may go on sale with reserve tag

DÚN LAOGHAIRE-Rathdown County Council bought properties from developers at a cost of €27.5 million.

They were acquired under the Planning and Development Acts, which stipulates developers must provide 20 per cent of any residential development to local authorities for social and affordable housing.

The 50 one-bed apartments, 52 two-beds and 15 three-beds are in eight developments in Sandyford, Stepaside, Dundrum, Dún Laoghaire, Rathfarnham and Leopardstown.

Some 54 of the apartments are in one development, The Belfry, Enniskerry Road, Stepaside. The Gallops in Sandyford contains 23 of the properties and Belarmine Plaza, also on the Enniskerry Road in Stepaside, contains 21.

The properties had all been offered to the 1,900 applicants on the affordable housing waiting list at prices from €132,000 to €180,000. They were discounted more than once to keep them 20 per cent cheaper than the open market.

However there were no interested purchasers under the affordable housing scheme, which includes a claw-back penalty requiring buyers who sell their properties within 20 years to pay back a percentage of the profit.

The council also carried out a random survey of more than 100 applicants on the waiting list to ascertain why they did not want to buy any of the properties.

Some 20 per cent of applicants were no longer in a financial position to purchase or could not secure a mortgage, while 14 per cent thought the prices were too high. A further 14 per cent wanted houses instead of apartments and 11 per cent had already purchased privately.

Director of housing at the council Charles McNamara has recommended that the properties be sold on the open market “subject to a reserve and with priority being given to first-time buyers”.

He has not yet stipulated what that reserve would be.

In a report to councillors to be debated at a meeting on Monday, Mr McNamara said it was that vital the council reduced the €27.5 million deficit incurred by the purchase of the properties.

“A failure to address this issue will have significant implications for the delivery of the council’s ambitious programme of capital projects, which are dependent on the availability of match funding from the council,” he said.

Other options considered by the council to deal with the unsold properties included introducing a let-to-buy scheme.

This would allow potential purchasers to live in and rent properties for a period before deciding whether to buy them.

However, at a meeting with the Department of the Environment last month, council officials were told that Dublin City Council had been approved for a let-to-buy pilot scheme.

Until that scheme has been assessed by the department and considered successful, no other local authorities will be given permission to initiate such a scheme.

The report also said voluntary housing bodies would not be in a position to purchase the unsold homes because the department had confirmed that no further funding would be made available to the voluntary sector under the Capital Loan and Subsidy Scheme.

Should the council be unsuccessful in selling the properties on the open market, it may be given permission by the department to transfer some of them to social housing under the social housing leasing initiative.

However this has disadvantages for the council; although it will receive rent, the scheme only lasts for five years and the council would have to bear the cost of repairs and redecoration of the properties once the lease period was finished.

Councillors are due to debate the issue on Monday.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Minister stresses importance of new town before vote on rezoning

PROPOSALS TO develop a new town at Cherrywood, south Dublin, are to be brought to Government within weeks, the Minister for Sustainable Transport and Planning has said.

Green Party Minister Ciarán Cuffe said the proposals would ensure proper facilities would be developed side by side with homes and businesses at Cherrywood, a 361-hectare site between the M50 and the N11.

He made his announcement before a controversial rezoning motion comes before Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council today to reduce retail zoning at Cherrywood and increase it at Carrickmines, also off the M50.

If the motion, tabled by six councillors, is passed, it will initiate a variation of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Development Plan. It will also countermand an order by Minister for the Environment John Gormley not to increase retail zoning at Carrickmines.

Mr Cuffe said yesterday that developer-led zonings were running the danger of undermining millions of euros in infrastructure investment and the creation of thousands of new jobs over the next decade.

He said the Strategic Development Zone (SDZ), the planning framework that will create the new town at Cherrywood, would provide the bedrock for sustainable economic development and job-creation. It would also allow for fast-tracked planning.

Mr Cuffe said the new town, when fully developed over 10 years, would provide 12,500 homes and 18,000 jobs.

“The proper infrastructure – including a new Luas line with five stops in Cherrywood which will open later this year – has been put in place. It has the potential to create a vibrant, dynamic new town in south Dublin.”

He was concerned the SDZ would be undermined by the Carrickmines motion, on which councillors will vote today.

“I have deep concerns that, because of the employment situation in Ireland at present, councillors and politicians are falling victim to the old claim of jobs being promised as long as a zoning takes place,” he said.

“Trading a zoning for a promise is not good planning and is consistent with past practices of light-touch regulation and pure and simple cronyism that got our country into its present difficulties.”

Councillors have also come under pressure from the developers of both Carrickmines and Cherrywood, who wrote to them on Friday.

The Carrickmines developer, Park Developments, has promised 800 jobs, a “guaranteed” anchor tenant as well as interest from other retailers should the motion be passed.

The Cherrywood developer, Dunloe Ewart, has threatened legal proceedings should the motion be passed. It said it has already spent €28.6 million on infrastructure in Cherrywood.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Gormley set to amend Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown plan

MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley is expected to amend the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown development plan unless councillors drop a proposal to increase the volume of retail space in the area by up to 20 per cent.

In a letter earlier this week to the council, his department said the proposed amendment – adopted on March 10th against the advice of county manager Owen Keegan – would contravene retail planning guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA).

The amendment, tabled by Cllr Jim O’Leary (FG), replaced the term “lettable retail floorspace” with “net sales area” throughout a chapter of the draft development plan dealing with the provision of shopping facilities.

“The department is of the view that the amendment contravenes the 2005 guidelines, which clearly differentiate between the relevant definitions,” the letter said, noting that “net sales area” typically constituted 80 – 90 per cent of the total lettable area.

“The effect of the amendment is to increase the total retail floorspace permitted in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown during the life of the plan by 10 to 20 per cent compared with that envisaged by the GDA retail strategy,” the department warned.

It said this would be a “material alteration” to the draft plan and, as such, should have been published for public consultation in accordance with the relevant section of the 2000 Planning Act “and should not therefore have proceeded”. The draft development plan is due to come into force on April 8th and, if councillors do not amend the disputed definition of retail space, the Minister would have no option but to use his powers under the 2000 Act to bring it into compliance.

Mr Gormley earlier issued a direction to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to reconsider the rezoning of Park Village, near the N11 in Carrickmines, from a neighbourhood centre to a potentially much larger district centre — also against planning advice.

When the matter came to a vote on March 10th, cathaoirleach Marie Baker (FG) had to use her casting vote to uphold the Minister’s direction after receiving legal advice from the officials that the council had to accept it — whether or not the members agreed.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Public can help with reshaping the gateway to Dún Laoghaire

THE PUBLIC are to be given an opportunity to decide where a controversial sculpture in south Co Dublin is to be relocated.

The Gateway sculpture, by Wexford artist Michael Warren, was temporarily removed last year by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to make way for road improvement works.

County manager Owen Keegan has told councillors its original location, between the town’s busy harbour and a retail complex, is no longer considered appropriate.

The 20-foot sculpture has attracted public debate since it was installed in 2002. Made from corten steel, which gives a rough orange appearance after slow oxidisation, it has been described variously as “fantastic”, “beautiful”, “ugly” and “rusty”.

It was commissioned by developer Eddie Sweeny under the Per Cent for Art Scheme, and erected close to the Pavilion retail and theatre complex and Dún Laoghaire’s 19th-century county hall.

When the sculpture was first installed, the council invited Mr Warren, a member of Aosdána, to address councillors on the piece. Though initially satisfied by the artist’s explanations of his work, following local elections councillors became unhappy again and there were further calls for the removal of the sculpture.

Last year, the council removed it temporarily to allow for local road improvements and the redesign of the area fronting the Pavilion complex.

In a report sent to councillors in advance of a meeting tonight, Mr Keegan said it was proposed to re-site the Gateway sculpture on a new traffic island further along Crofton Road.

“It is considered that the redeveloped area adjacent to the Pavilion complex will not constitute an appropriate location for the Gateway sculpture,” he said.

He said the proposed new location “stays true to the original vision of the artist, whose concept was to create a sculpture that would frame the entrance to Dún Laoghaire when viewed from Crofton Road”.

The surface of the sculpture is also to be restored to remove stains and marks and will have a stable, anti-graffiti seal.

Mr Keegan said Mr Warren had been consulted and had indicated he was open to the proposal. Given the sensitivity of the project and the public interest it would generate, he recommended the relocation be carried out under a Part 8 scheme. This will mean the plan will be put out for public consultation, and submissions will be accepted before councillors make a decision on the sculpture’s final location. Councillors will discuss the report at a local area meeting tonight.

Irish Times

www.buckplanning.ie

Boxing clever: Dunne plans new south Dublin gym

Businessman Ben Dunne has sought planning permission to develop a gym and six all-weather soccer pitches on the site of the former Presentation Brothers playing fields at Glasthule, Co Dublin.

The former Dunnes Stores supremo plans to demolish the existing changing rooms and construct a two-storey fitness centre, the pitches and nearly 250 car parking spaces.

Dunne agreed to buy the 4.3-acre site in November 2008 for more than the asking price of €5m, subject to approval by the Representative Church Body.

Dunne owns gyms at Blanchardstown, Kimmage and Ballymun in Dublin. Last week he said he plans to expand into Europe using his low-cost model. Dunne has told the Sunday Tribune that, when he withdrew swimming and other facilities at Blanchardstown last year, he lost about 500 of the gym's 8,000 members.

Sunday Tribune

www.buckplanning,ie