A fresh planning application for the construction of almost 1,000 homes on the site of the former Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, Dublin has been submitted to An Bord Pleanála, more than a year after permission was originally granted.
The Land Development Agency (LDA) received permission from the planning board in May of last year to build 852 affordable and social homes on what is one of the most prominent housing sites in the agency’s portfolio of State lands.
However, a legal challenge was mounted to the board’s decision by local developer Mark Leonard, who argued that the development was in conflict with the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council development plan.
The board conceded the legal challenge last April, but the LDA, which was a notice party, decided to continue to defend the case. The judicial review proceedings are ongoing.
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The agency’s original application was made under the strategic housing development (SHD) system, where plans for large scale residential schemes were submitted directly to the board, bypassing the local authority planning system.
The system was designed to speed up the delivery of housing and required the board to make decisions in 16 weeks. The LDA made its application for 940 apartments on the Dundrum site in March 2022 and was granted permission in May of last year, albeit with the board reducing the permitted number of homes to 852.
The SHD system has since been scrapped, but the LDA said it is now “partnering” with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which is lodging the new application for 934 apartments on the site.
This relationship with the council allows an application to be made directly to the board, with the public given six weeks to make observations. This system, used for local authority projects, also allows the board to ask the council to make modifications to the application before making a final decision.
The latest plans are “broadly in line with the existing permission”, the LDA said, with a mix of apartments, duplexes and community homes to accommodate “families, first time buyers, older residents and renters”.
The majority of the apartments, 753, will be affordable purchase and cost rental homes, aimed at low and middle income workers. There will be 181 social homes for people on the council’s housing waiting list.
The height of the apartment blocks along the boundary of the site has been reduced in response to “concerns raised during the original consultation period”, with heights ranging from two to eight storeys across the site, the LDA said.
“We are hopeful that through our partnership with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, we can build on the confidence and trust earned with residents during the initial consultation process,” said LDA chief executive John Coleman.
“We have worked extensively on these plans and are confident that they will deliver a vastly enhanced community in Dundrum.”
The LDA could still develop the original scheme, if it gets a positive result from the judicial review case, and is likely to proceed with whichever application gets the green light first.
When it published its master plan for the site in April 2021, the LDA had hoped the first homes would be available this year, with the entire scheme scheduled for completion by 2028. It no longer has a target date for construction of the scheme.
The site has for the past year been used to provide tented accommodation for asylum seekers.
Information meetings outlining the latest plans will be held on September 10th from 10am-1pm and September 12th from 4pm-8pm in Dundrum Library. Details are also available at dundrumcentral.ie.
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