Operator of Dublin airport seeks to block €10m housing development

The DAA, the operator of Dublin airport, has moved to block a €10 million housing development planned for a site 1km from Dublin airport.

Last month Fingal County Council granted planning permission to Clarke Family Partnership for the construction of 36 residential units on land zoned for housing on the southern fringe of Swords at Boroimhe Link Road.

The proposal consists of 23 three-bedroomed houses, seven four-bedroomed houses and six two-bedroom apartments in a three-storey block. However, the DAA has appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála, putting a question mark over the development.

The site is in the inner airport noise zone, and in a hard-hitting appeal the DAA said to grant planning permission for the proposal “would set a negative planning precedent for development within the inner airport noise zone, and put at risk decades of land-use planning that has supported the sustainable growth and development of Dublin airport”.

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The DAA said it strongly opposed granting permission, and does not support further encroachment on the noise zone in the interests of proper planning and development.

It said permitting noise-sensitive development within an inner airport noise zone would contravene national, regional and local level policy. If the appeals board was minded to grant planning permission, the developer should take all reasonable steps to advise future occupants of the homes that they were within the inner airport noise zone and their proximity to the airport’s new runway which is under construction.

The DAA said it is anticipated that the northern parallel runway will commence operation in 2021.

Density

In the Fingal County Council planner’s report recommending that planning be granted it said the density of 37 units per hectare was acceptable having regard to the current pattern of development in the area and the availability of public transport.

The planning authority gave the plan the go-ahead after it was urged to grant planning by consultants for Clarke Family Partnership given the shortage of housing in the Dublin region. The consultants said the current site was the last undeveloped piece of the residentially-zoned lands in the area, and was therefore “the last piece of the jigsaw” in the area.

In 2008, planning permission was previously granted on the site for 99 units and that permission expired. In 2016, planning was granted for 36 units by Fingal County Council, but was refused on appeal.

A decision is due in May.