Updated at 7.50pm
PLANS FOR A contentious new housing development in north Dublin have fallen at the first hurdle.
Dublin City Council’s planning department said in its decision that the wrong name had been included by developers New Generation Homes, who are hoping to build 381 houses at a site adjacent to St. Anne’s Park.
It was confirmed this evening that the application is to be re-submitted next week.
The site in question encompasses playing pitches that were owned by the Vincentian secondary school St. Paul’s College, but which were sold earlier this year to New Generation Homes.
The pitches are alongside the main avenue running through St. Anne’s Park – a major amenity for the Clontarf and Raheny areas – and border some other Dublin City Council-owned pitches in the park.
Here’s the decision from the Council:
“Following an initial broad assessment of the observations made associated with this application it has been brought to the attention of the Planning Authority that the applicant stated on the application form “Crekav Landbank Developments Ltd” is not a registered company in the Companies Registration Office.
“Following a search on the Companies Registration Office database The Planning Authority note that this is in fact the case and that the Company reference number stated on the application form No. 547608 corresponds with Crekav Landbank Investments Ltd.
“As the applicant stated is not considered a legal entity the application does not comply with Article 22 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (as amended). The application is therefore considered invalid.”
There has been widespread public opposition to the plans from locals in the area, and an I Love St. Anne’s campaign has been launched online to encourage people to lodge their own objections to the scheme.
Minister and local Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is amongst those objecting. The Dublin Bay North deputy said last week the plan was in breach of zoning regulations and that a development of this type was “excessive”.
In an email to supporters today, Clontarf local Patrick Stanley – one of the organisers of the campaign against the project – said he was in no doubt there would be a new application “but we’re off to a good start”.
New Generation Homes confirmed this evening that the application would be resubmitted:
“There was indeed an inaccuracy in the applicant name on our planning application form. We will correct this and resubmit the application within the next week.”
The planned development would also include dedicated an all-weather floodlit sports field for St Paul’s and a new sports hall.
Upon the sale of the lands earlier this year, the Vincentian Order said that the school was “in need of investment” and that €7 million would be made available for the “upgrade of the school and its grounds”.
The developer has argued that the all-weather pitches and sports hall will be a resource for the community – however Ó Ríordáin argued in his letter to planning regulators that they “would not be fully accessible and open to the public”.
The I Love St. Anne’s campaign contends that the lands are zoned for community use, and that this must be protected.
The group adds:
“The construction of a residential development in part of this green belt is wholly inappropriate, conflicts squarely with zoning and would have a ruinous impact on the special character of the park.”
It’s also argued that the proposed access roads to the development would affect the recreational use of the park.
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