An Bord Pleanála has given the go-ahead for a large scheme of apartments to be built at Chesterfield on Cross Avenue in Blackrock, reports Edel Morgan.
An Bord Pleanála has given Myles Crofton's Avenue Homes the thumbs-up for a residential development at Chesterfield, the former Blackrock home of the late Tom Roche who co-founded Roadstone.
Avenue Homes, which paid €47 million in 2004 for the nine-acre property, was originally looking to build 204 apartments in four blocks at the Cross Avenue site. However in granting permission, the number of apartments allowed has been reduced to around 150 in blocks rising to six storeys.
The developer will also refurbish Chesterfield, which is a protected structure, and change its use to a headquarters office building with a one-bedroom caretaker's apartment. This will involve demolishing the non-original extensions to Chesterfield House and some outhouses, and landscaping the gardens, and creating walkways.
The approval of the developer's plan will come as a blow to the eight third party appellants which opposed the development, including Cherbury Court Management Company, Clonfadda Wood Management Company, Southwood Park Residents Association and Cross Avenue Residents Association.
They claim there was no consultation with the local community either by the developer or by the planning authority, despite a written request. They have also said that the underlying principle of the zoning objective of the site is to protect existing residential amenities.
They say the scale of development is inappropriate in this mature area and would impact by visual obtrusiveness, overlooking, traffic, noise and disruption.
Excessive density, height, and the mass of development in relation to the existing building form, character, pattern, and scale of development, the impact on Chesterfield, and the "pastoral ambience" of Cross Avenue were other concerns.
The site has considerable frontage onto Cross Avenue and also adjoins several other housing developments, including Booterstown Park and Cherbury Gardens on one side, and Glenvar Park and South Wood Park on the opposite side.
However, as well as reducing the number of apartment units, which involves the omission of an entire block, the number of basement car-parking spaces has been reduced from 356 to 220.
The site has been the subject of controversy since it was sold in 2004.
In 2005 Crofton was turned down by An Bord Pleanála for 76 houses and 45 apartments on the site.
Chesterfield was home to the Roche family for over 40 years and was previously owned by another Dublin business family, the Bradburys.
The sale of the Roche family home in 2004 sparked a bitter legal row between brother and sister, Eleanor and Tom Roche, whose father, also Tom, founded the National Toll Roads company. Eleanor Roche felt she had a claim against the people who had bought the multi-million nine-acre property and the subsequent High Court proceedings delayed the completion of the sale.
