Green light for €63m residential development in Kilternan, south Dublin

Bord Pleanála ruling on 203-unit scheme comes despite council recommending refusal

An Bord Pleanála has granted fast-track planning permission for a €63 million residential scheme at Kilternan in south Dublin. The appeals board granted permission to Adroit Operations Ltd for 203 residential units comprised of 109 houses and 94 apartments in spite of the recommendation by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to refuse planning permission.

As part of the proposal, Adroit Operations has put an indicative cost of €8.16 million on the proposed sale of 27 units to the council for social housing. The granting of permission for the scheme, on lands adjoining the Bishop’s Gate housing development on Enniskerry Road, now allows the applicant and the council to negotiate a final price for the units.

The council had recommended that planning be refused as it deemed the proposal premature because of deficiencies in the road network. It said that the area has reached capacity in terms of unit numbers and no further development should take place until additional infrastructure had been provided.

However, the board’s inspector Louise Treacy said that while the proposed scheme, in conjunction with other permitted developments in the area, exceeded the 700-unit cap for the area, all permissions for the area have not been implemented. She pointed out that the planning board had granted permission for the Glenamuck district distributor road in December 2019 and for another nearby road upgrade in 2017.

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Permission

“In my opinion, it would be unreasonable to refuse planning permission for the proposed development based on deficiencies in the local road network, given that the necessary consents to upgrade the road network have been obtained,” she said.

The board found that the Kilternan scheme would constitute an acceptable density of development at the location and would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of the area and it would also be acceptable in terms of height and design.

Adroit Operations is a Leixlip-registered property development company and its shareholders are listed as Pearse Lydon, Anthony Lydon, Conor Lydon and Martin Lydon.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times