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Planned apartments on former Cadbury’s pitch and putt course face opposition from Northside Retail Park owners

Proposal for homes and retail units face objections from retail park owners

Plans for more than 300 homes at the site of the former Cadbury’s pitch and putt course in Coolock are facing opposition. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times

Gordon Deegan
Tue Feb 27 2024 - 16:16

Planning consultants for the owners of the Northside Retail Park have told Dublin City Council that proposals for 330 apartments, 60 assisted living units and retail units at the site of the former Cadbury’s pitch and putt course in Coolock should be refused.

OTR Development Company Ltd lodged plans last month for the Large Scale Residential Development (LRD) scheme with consultants for the applicants, Tom Phillips + Associates telling the Council that the homes “are desperately needed amidst the current housing crisis”.

The scheme for the Dublin 5 site also includes a retail component of 3,303 sq metres comprising a neighbourhood store totalling 2,538 sq metres as part of five retail units in the scheme.

The scheme comprises six blocks rising from two to nine storeys in height and the site is bounded to the east by the Cadbury’s (Mondelez Europe) Factory, to the north by the former Chiver’s Jam Factory and the west by the Northside Retail Park.

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In an objection on behalf of owners of the Northside Retail Park, Tansan Properties Ltd, ORHRE Management Services has told the council that the proposal “includes a significant quantum of retail space in an out of centre location which would directly threaten the viability and vitality of our property at Northside Retail park”.

Tansan Properties is jointly owned by Charlie O’Reilly Hyland and Edmund O’Reilly Hyland and the company’s most recent accounts show that it was sitting on accumulated profits of €6 million at the end of 2022 and paid out dividends of €599,294 in 2022 and also recorded a post tax loss of €1 million for that year.

The objection states that, while Tansan Properties has no objection in principle to the development of the lands, it states that the firm has “concerns regarding the potential significant and detrimental impact on the vitality and viability of our premises and the current trading environment”.

Cllr John Lyons (Independent Left) has also told the Council that the proposal should be refused in its current form.

He contends that the current application is in danger of providing an overly residential development on the lands “that does not offer the infrastructure that could allow a thriving, lively new development to evolve into a new community which could grow and integrate with the existing community”.

On behalf of the applicants, Orla Casey of Tom Phillips + Associates has told the council that the scheme will create a variety of housing types and sizes in a high-quality landscaped setting at a residential density that accords with national policy.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times

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