The owners of the Killiney Court Hotel have been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála to turn it into a luxury apartment scheme. Edel Morgan reports.
The decision was made on foot of an oral hearing in January where two parties appealed the scheme. The planning board ruled that the scheme "would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity", and would be acceptable in terms of traffic safety and convenience.
In its conditions of permission it reduced the number of apartments from 48 to 44.
The plan is to partially demolish the existing hotel, and refurbish the original house and convert it to two apartments. Rhode Ireland Ltd, a company controlled by Bert Allen of Slaney Meats in Wexford, bought the hotel from the Buckley family for €7.62 million. Mr Allen is also involved with a number of Bewleys franchised hotels. Other directors of Rhode (Ireland) include Maurice Allen and Patrick Asple.
The decision is likely to come as a blow to the two appellants, Donal O'hAodha with an address in Greystones, and Bernadette McCormick who lives locally. Mr O'hAodha said the hotel is on one of the most scenic sites in Ireland with magnificent sea views and public lawns open to customers of the hotel and to lose such an amenity and facility in such a unique setting would be "devastating to the people of Dublin and the adjoining area".
Diarmuid O'Gráda, planning consultant on behalf of Bernadette McCormick, pointed to the inappropriate scale, bulk and design of the apartment blocks on a scenic coastline "which is inconsistent with the established pattern of housing".
