Plans for over 650 homes in Dublin rejected due to lack of information about environmental impact

Seán McCárthaigh

Plans for over 650 new homes in south-west Dublin have been refused planning permission over inadequate information about the potential environmental impact of associated roadworks.

An Coimisiún Pleanála rejected the joint application by developers, Kelland Homes and Durkan Estates, to construct 655 new housing units on a 18.3-hectare site between Saggart and Citywest.

The proposed development consisted of 267 houses, 158 duplex units and 194 apartments across nine blocks ranging up to five storeys in height as well as a two-storey creche on a greenfield site at Boherboy, Saggart Road, Saggart, Co Dublin.

Part of the site has also been reserved for a school to be developed at a later stage.

The Commission said it considered that an environmental impact assessment report (EIAR) and other documentation supplied with the application did not adequately identify or describe the effects of the proposed development on the environment.

It claimed the lack of information related particularly to proposed works to Boherboy Road towards its junction with the N81 as well as the extent of the removal of hedgerows.

The Commission said it was not satisfied that the information contained in the EIAR complied with EU legislation particularly relating to biodiversity, noise, material assets, transportation, landscape and cumulative impacts.

A planning inspector with An Coimisiún Pleanála said the failure to identify the potential impacts of such works was “a significant omission.”

However, the Commission did not adopt its own inspector’s other grounds for recommending that planning permission be refused which related to the fact that a majority of apartments within two blocks do not exceed the minimum floor area for the unit type.

The planning application had been made under the process for strategic housing developments which allows developers to apply directly to An Coimisiún Pleanála without first having to obtain a ruling from a local authority.

However, South Dublin County Council also recommended that permission for the development be refused on the basis of insufficient information about its impact on the local environment.

In addition, the council claimed the plans represented a material contravention of planning policies for the area in relation to a range of issues including density, height and average size unit

In 2029, a similar joint application by Kelland Homes and Durkan Estates to build 609 new homes on the same site was also refused planning permission by the Commission’s predecessor, An Bord Pleanála, on a number of grounds including inadequate information about the project’s environmental impact.

An Coimisiún Pleanála received a total of 32 third-party submissions about the project in which many objected to the principle of the development and claimed it materially contravened local planning policy.

Complaints were also made about its excessive density and height and that the proposed apartment blocks were not in keeping with a suburban area and would block views and overlook a public park.

Obejectors also expressed concern about the lack of social infrastructure and community facilities in the area, while many local amenities were at capacity.

Similar concerns were raised about the loss of green spaces, hedgerows and the impacts on biodiversity by such a large-scale development.

Elected members of South Dublin County Council from the Tallaght and Clondalkin areas raised the same concerns at meetings in 2022.

In a 189-page report, an inspector with An Coimisiún Pleanála said the main significant impacts on population and human health were negative predicted ones commensurate with the nature and scale of the proposed development.

However, the inspector said they would be predominantly short-term associated with the construction phase.

On the impact on biodiversity, she said she was not satisfied that the EIAR had included all the proposed works as part of the screening for environmental impacts.

“There is an inadequate assessment of the proposed development on roads and traffic,” the inspector observed.

She claimed there was particularly insufficient information about the potential loss of hedgerows and trees due to a proposed footpath and roadworks on Boherboy Road.

The developers said “judicious consideration” had been paid to improve the layout of the proposed development from previous plans.

They added: “It is considered that the current proposal caters for variety and distinctiveness, creates a sense of place and is a good urban design response to the site which itself has to deal with a number of fixed constraints including topography.”