An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for another major housing scheme in south Co Dublin that would have provided 364 apartments and five townhouses on a 7.5-acre site off Mount Anville Road, Goatstown.
Basement parking for more than 500 cars was also envisaged, as well as a new access route from the site - formerly the grounds of Knockrabo House - pending construction of a motorway link between Sandyford and Booterstown.
The scheme by Knockrabo Development Ltd, which included a 12-storey tower, had been approved by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council last July.
However, the decision was appealed by local residents on the grounds of excessive height and density.
A creche and a gym were also within one of the proposed blocks.
The new access route from Mount Anville Road was intended to serve the proposed development pending the construction of the Sandyford-St Helen's link motorway.
In its ruling, the appeals board said the proposed development, which is on an elevated site, would be "highly prominent and visually obtrusive in the landscape [ and] would, therefore, seriously injure the amenities of the area and of property in the vicinity".
Noting Government policy to encourage higher housing densities on such inner suburban sites while striking a balance with the protection of existing residential amenities, the board said the proposed Knockrabo scheme "would fail to strike such balance".
It also noted that the site was located in a mature, suburban area zoned "to protect and/or improve residential amenity", where new development should "respect the existing built form, scale, character heritage and residential amenity" of the area.
"Having regard to the considerable scale and height of the proposed development, it is considered that it would detract from the residential amenity of property in the vicinity and be significantly out of character with the area," the board said.
Another reason cited for refusing permission was the lack of an appropriate mix of housing, as indicated by "the preponderance of small one- and two-bedroom apartments and the relative lack of larger units and family-type accommodation".
The board also ruled that the development would be "prejudicial" to the completion of the proposed motorway linking Sandyford and St Helen's, Booterstown, given the close proximity of the apartment blocks to the reservation for this road scheme.
The Knockrabo development is the fifth major housing scheme in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown to be rejected by An Bord Pleanála in recent weeks.
The others were in Stillorgan, Churchtown, Leopardstown and Beech Hill, off Clonskeagh Road.
This raft of reversals for the county council's planners was attacked in a report earlier this month by estate agents Hooke and MacDonald, which claimed that the board's "hard-line approach to decision-making . . . contravenes Government housing policy".
However, the Irish Planning Institute defended the board's record, saying it was "dangerous to suggest that, in order to respond to the need for an adequate supply of houses, the board should permit reduced standards of design and good planning".
