Dublin City Council has refused planning permission for a 97-unit build-to-rent apartment scheme for a former Murphy & Gunn site in Milltown, Dublin 6.
The authority has refused planning permission to Charlemont Project Ltd after a number of local residents claimed the scheme would create "a ghettoised population".
The scheme is made up of 48 one-bedroom and 49 two-bedroom apartments in three blocks, with one rising to six storeys in height at 9-14 and 11c Milltown Road, Milltown.
More than 50 objections were lodged against the scheme by locals, and the council has refused planning permission on four grounds.
Overbearing
The council concluded that the proposed scheme would appear disproportionate and harmful to the visual amenities and character of the area due to its layout, scale and bulk.
It said that due to the scheme’s height, massing and its proximity to existing residential properties, the proposal would be overbearing to neighbouring occupiers.
It also concluded that the scheme would provide a poor standard of residential accommodation for future occupiers due to the non provision of private amenity space to some units, together with a lack of adequate compensatory communal open space.
The planner found that 25 units would not have private amenity space. The applicant said this non-provision was due to the site constraints, primarily the need to avoid impacts on neighbouring residents.
The council also refused permission on the basis that the development would endanger public safety by reason of a traffic hazard, due to the conflict of the site’s access with an existing signalised pedestrian crossing.
The council said the proposed changes to the public road outside of the applicant’s control are considered unacceptable because of the negative impact on the wider road network.
Residents
Milltown residents Mary Hennessy and Ton van Nuenen told the council that the units proposed "will create a significant transitory population due to little variation of tenancy or size of unit across the accommodations".
“The effect of such a ghettoised population will be to create a significant disruption factor within what is a mature residential area,” they added.
The contention that “a ghettoised population” would disrupt the local community is repeated by other residents who have lodged similar objections.
The applicants now have the option to appeal to An Bord Pleanála.
