Milltown residents contest permission for build-to-rent development

Residents in Milltown in Dublin 6 are contesting Dublin City Council’s grant of permission to contentious plans for a scaled-down 54-unit build-to-rent scheme.

The council last month granted planning permission to Westridge Milltown Ltd despite warnings from a number of Dublin 6 residents that the planned scheme for Dunelm, Rydalmount, Milltown Road, would do little to attract an established community.

Now, three separate third-party appeals against the decision have been lodged with An Bord Pleanála by Richview Residents Association; Dr Paul Kelly; and John Whelan and Joanne Hanna and others.

The applicant, Westridge Milltown Ltd, has also lodged a first-party appeal against two conditions reducing the number of units in the scheme from 59 to 54 units that included the omission of a block.

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On behalf of John Whelan and Joanne Hanna and three other local households, Marston Consultancy told the appeals board that the excessive massing and scale of the scheme “will be visually incongruous along all surrounding streets and will be overbearing in nature to surrounding residential areas”.

Marston Consultancy also contended that the scheme “will result in a serious traffic hazard due to the inadequate vehicular and pedestrian access”.

The appellants said the proposal “cannot be justified in its current form and should be refused”.

The “only reasonable conclusion to reach is that the proposal is completely contrary to its surrounding land use context and should be refused”, the appeal concludes.

The Richview Residents Association told the appeals board that the density of the scheme is more than twice that allowed in the Dublin City Development Plan.

The appeal stated that the full extent of large-scale developments for the area has not been taken into account.

In his appeal, Dr Paul Kelly stated that the proposed scheme will have a negative impact on the Nine Arches Bridge which is a protected structure.

In the Westridge appeal lodged, consultant John Spain and Associates said the 59-unit plan put forward “provide good quality residential accommodation, whilst enhancing the communal amenity space at ground floor level and ensuring no adverse impacts on neighbourhood properties”.

The consultant said the 59-unit scheme “provides an appropriate design, scale and massing” and contended that the reduction in density from 59 to 54 units “is not warranted and is contrary to the national and local planning policy objectives to deliver compact growth”.