The developers behind plans for a six-storey, 158-bedroom hotel for Kildare town have offered to reduce the scale of the development.
Kildare County Council last month refused planning permission to Murlyn Capital Investments for the hotel on a site at the junction of Nurney Road and Monasterevin Road at Kildare, adjoining the Kildare Village site.
The council refused planning permission after objections were lodged against the plan by the operator of the Kildare Village retail park and Tesco Ireland.
Murlyn Capital Investments has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála against the council’s decision and has put forward an alternative proposal which omits one floor from the scheme.
Alan Whelan of O’Connor Whelan, consultants for Murlyn Capital Investments, told the appeals board that the hotel developers were willing to accept a condition which would reduce the hotel by a floor and set back the proposed fifth and now top floor.
With only three big banks left, are Irish consumers bereft of choice?
Mr Whelan said the 5th floor set-back would break up the bulk of the building. He told the appeals board the council’s refusal of permission was “unwarranted”.
Mr Whelan pointed out that “despite the extensive and welcome attendance from Kildare County Council, none of the issues raised in the reasons for refusal were referred to in pre-planning consultations”.
He said that “the proposed development height is suitable for this commercially zoned site and in keeping with the height of the adjoining Tesco store”.
The planning consultant also said the hotel scheme provided for the commercial development of an agricultural site within the confines of the town’s commercial zone that would ensure the viability and vitality of the area.
Mr Whelan further contended that the planned hotel would “provide much-needed tourism accommodation” and would “entice [overnight] visitors to stay in the town as opposed to mere day visitors”.
The council refused planning permission after concluding that the proposed development would seriously injure the residential amenities and depreciate the value of property in the vicinity.
The planning authority also refused planning after concluding that the applicant had not adequately demonstrated that the proposal would not create an adverse impact on the functioning of the national roads and associated M7 interchange to the south of the town.
The council said the proposed development could lead to conditions which would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard.
On behalf of Kildare Village operator Value Retail Dublin, RMLA planning consultants told the council that the hotel scheme was 23 metres in height and represented an overbearing and incongruent urban form when compared to the two-storey Kildare Village retail park.
