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An Bord Pleanála Inspector’s Report Development : Demolition of 3 no. agricultural buildings and construction of a mixed-use development comprising 86 no. houses, medical centre, crèche, retail units and associated site works at Coolearagh West, Coill Dubh, Blackwood, Co. Kildare. Planning Application Planning Authority : Kildare County Council Planning Authority Register Ref. : 07/653 Applicant : Keith McGuinness Type of Application : Permission Planning Authority Decision : Grant permission. Planning Appeal Appellant(s) : Tony McEvoy Type of Appeal : 3rd Party v Grant Observer(s) : An Taisce Date of site inspection : 12 th March 2009 Inspector: Michael Dillon PL 09.231627 An Bord Pleanala Page 1 of 20 1.0 SITE LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION 1.1 The site, with a stated area of 5.03ha, is located within the settlement of Coolearagh – some 2.5km by road north of the R403 Regional Road linking Prosperous with Allenwood, in north County Kildare. The 50kph speed restriction applies along the public road in this area. There is no public lighting, but there is a 1m wide public footpath along the entire frontage of the site (in a poor state of repair). The site is located on the outside of a broad bend in the road and there is a single, unbroken white line in the centre of the road. Notwithstanding the bend in the road, sight distance at the proposed access points is good – there being a grass margin setback between the footpath and the hedgerow boundary (created when the road was realigned at some stage in the recent past). 1.2 Facilities within the settlement of Coolearagh include a shop/filling station, church and Bord na Mona factory (‘Puraflo’ manufacturing facility). The settlement is linked by a narrow footpath with the larger village of Coill Dubh to the south. There is rudimentary public lighting along part of this link. Coill Dubh has a shop/post office, credit union, golf club and bookmakers. The Londis mini- market is closed. The 120 Bus Eireann Route (linking Dublin with Edenderry) serves Coill Dubh: it is approximately 1.5km from the appeal site to the bus stop. There are national schools at Timahoe (3.5km), Staplestown (6km) and Coill Dubh (1.5km). 1.3 The site comprises a roughly square-shaped field which is generally flat. It is currently in grass and was dry under foot on the date of site inspection. A trial hole excavated in the middle of the field was dry to 2m depth. There is a ringfort identified in the southeastern corner of the site – adjacent to the road, with partially upstanding banks and ditches. The ringfort is somewhat overgrown, with some good mature timber within the 0.34ha piece of land. There are three, disused agricultural sheds adjacent to the southern boundary of the site – which would once have formed part of the farmyard complex of the two-storey house immediately to the south. There is a vehicular entrance to the site from the road in the vicinity of the farm buildings. 1.4 The southeastern boundary of the site is formed by the road – the boundary with which is fair-quality hedgerow. The Kane’s Pass and Church View housing estates are located on the opposite side of the road. To the east, the site abuts the grounds of the presbytery of the adjacent RC church – the boundary with which is a 2m high trimmed beech hedge. To the rear of the presbytery there is a small paddock – the boundary with which is a concrete post and chainlink fence. To the north and west, the site abuts agricultural land – the boundaries with which are good-quality hedgerows with mature trees. To the southwest the site abuts a housing development – the boundary with which is a fair-quality hedgerow with some mature trees. To the south, the site abuts a two-storey house and agricultural buildings – the boundary with which is a concrete block wall. PL 09.231627 An Bord Pleanala Page 2 of 20 2.0 THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Permission sought on 28 th March 2007, for development comprising the following elements- • 79 no. houses in a mixture of single- and two-storey, detached, semi- detached and terraced form; comprising, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom units. • 7 no. first floor apartments above commercial uses. • 1 no. two-storey crèche of 324sq.m. • 1 no. medical centre of 423sq.m. • 7 no. retail units of 1,079sq.m. • Village Green open space plus an additional 4 other open space areas. • 226 no. car-parking spaces. • 2 no. vehicular access points from the public road (L-1019). • Demolition of 3 no. disused agricultural buildings. • Water supply from public mains in the L-1019. • Foul effluent disposal to the 225mm diameter public foul sewer – connection within the Kane’s Pass housing estate on the opposite side of the road. • Surface water disposal to drain on the northern boundary of the site – via an underground attenuation area (2,433 cubic metres) within a green open space area. • Three phases of development are proposed. The application is accompanied by the following- • Planning Report. • Attenuation & Surface water sewer calculations. 2.2 Following a substantial request for additional information, revised proposals were received by the Council on 19 th November 2007, as follows- • Revised site layout to take account of the ringfort on the site and the need for an appropriate 15m buffer around it. • Reduction in no. of residential units to 73 (including 9 no. apartments). • Reduction in no. of retail units to 3 (457sq.m). • Increase in floor area of crèche to 340sq.m. • Increase in public open space provision. • Justification for scheme to serve ‘local need’ and ‘local growth’. • Revision of private open space for dwellings to meet the Development Plan standard. • How apartments comply with requirements of ‘Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments, 2007’. • Revised car parking and bicycle parking/storage spaces. • Provision of only one vehicular access to the site. PL 09.231627 An Bord Pleanala Page 3 of 20 • Redesign of the spine road through the site with omission of any direct access from it. • Provision of pump and emergency storage tank for foul effluent. • Relocation of surface water outfall to the northwest. • Substitution of swale for underground attenuation – storage of 2,581 cubic metres. • Indication of sight distances at entrance. The submission is accompanied by the following- • Planning Report. • Archaeological Impact Assessment Report. • Attenuation and surface water sewer calculations & foul sewer calculations. 2.3 Following a substantial request for clarification of additional information, revised proposals were received on 18 th March 2008, as follows- • Revised site layout plan. • Reduction in the number of residential units to 69 (including 10 no. apartments). • Increase in number of retail units to 4 no. (651sq.m). • Increase in floor area of medical centre to 474sq.m. • Examination of the decision of An Bord Pleanala to refuse planning permission ref. 06/824 (PL 09.222618) as it relates to ‘local need’ and ‘local growth’ for this current application. • Indication of how application complies with the Regional Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area 2004. • The developer and the developer of planning application ref. 07/1186 will provide a watermain from Coill Dubh to Coolearagh to serve both sites. • Willingness to contribute towards the upgrade of the footpath between Coill Dubh and Coolearagh – as well as upgrading the entire roadside boundary frontage footpath to 2m width and 2m grass verge. • Applicant has agreed to provide an area of 3.5 acres to Coill Dubh Soccer Club. A condition could be imposed requiring the applicant to transfer this land to the Local Authority within a reasonable timeframe of the commencement of the development. The lands to be transferred are located immediately to the north of the applicant site and are illustrated on Plate 2 of the Planning Report and on maps submitted. • Compliance with the Draft ‘Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas Guidelines’ 2008. • Landscaping. • Storage areas and refuse storage areas. • Possible access points to future development lands. • Replacement of surface water swale with retention pond. • Revised surface water outfall route and outfall point to stream – including 13m wide wayleave. Throttling of outfall to 2 litres per second per ha. PL 09.231627 An Bord Pleanala Page 4 of 20 • Indication of sight distance at proposed entrance. • Revised car-parking. • Provision of turning bay at the end of the spine access route. The submission is accompanied by the following- • Planning Report • Foul water, attenuation and surface water sewer calculations. 2.4 The Executive Planner’s Report of 3 rd April 2008, recommended refusal of planning permission for 4 reasons. The Acting Senior Executive Planner requested that further information be sought. 2.5 Following a request for clarification of additional information, revised proposals were received by the Council on 30 th July 2008, as follows- • Illustration of how application complies with the Residential Density Guidelines for the Greater Dublin Area and the Draft Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas Guidelines 2008. • Radical revision to the site layout to substantially reduce the scale of the development. • Reduction in no. of houses to 27. • Reduction in no. of apartments to 3 first floor units above retail units. • Omission of crèche. • Omission of medical centre. • Reduction in no. of retail units to 2 – floor area 414sq.m. • Omission of a significant amount of open space. • Revised site layout to provide for residential parking. • Additional screen planting on the northern and western boundaries of the site. • Foul sewer connection directly to the manhole at the pumping station on the opposite side of the road: together with proposals for upgrading the pumping station.