AN BORD Pleanála has deferred a decision due last week on planning permission for a new €60 million plus private day hospital close to Cork University Hospital (CUH) until the middle of December to allow it to consider further submissions.
The 3G Partnership, a development company set up by the Kelleher family, had been granted planning permission by Cork City Council for the Wilton Medical Centre on Bishopstown Road in Cork on May 14th last but the decision was appealed by local residents groups.
The Wilton Avenue, Upper Bishopstown and Merlyn Lawn Residents Association lodged a detailed objection on June 10th to the application for the day hospital planned for the 1.1 acre site formerly occupied by an Esso petrol station on the Bishopstown Road adjacent to CUH.
The developers also acquired several private houses to accommodate the development which will comprise almost 10,500sq m spread over five storeys above three basement levels providing about 220 car parking spaces.
The plan for the centre also includes a day surgery facility, specialist imaging and oncology services, a specialist children's clinic as well as about 60 consultant rooms with a walk-in urgent care facility and some specialist retail units located on the ground floor.
But the residents, who had already successfully objected to two previous proposals by 3G Partnership for the site, have argued in their submission to An Bord Pleanála that the current proposal represents just a 5 per cent reduction in floor space on the previous applications.
They argue the proposal will give rise to serious traffic congestion in the area particularly given that the development includes a retail element which will lead to the emergence of "a virtual shopping centre" on site which will involve high frequency traffic movements.
They also argue that traffic volumes generated by the development must be considered in the context of the permitted and planned uses not just for the site itself but for the surrounding and adjacent CUH campus for which a new co-located hospital is also being planned.
The residents have also expressed opposition to the proposal on the grounds that the building will lead to both overlooking and overshadowing of adjoining houses to the west whose common boundary is nine metres from the perimeter of the proposed clinic site.
However, the developers have argued that the clinic, which will create more than 150 medical-related jobs, will complement CUH and the private co-located hospital planned for the CUH campus by the Beacon Medical Group.
The developers said the medical centre would take two years to construct once planning had been cleared.