Plans to limit the use of the private cars by users of the new national children’s hospital are “ambitious” but achievable, according to the planning inspector’s report on the project.
"There is no other public healthcare site in the State as well-served by public transport as St James's," planning inspector Tom Rabbette comments in his 293-page report on the project.
Mr Rabbette has approved the plans to build the hospital at St James’s, subject to 17 conditions. He says the hospital is a long-awaited and much-needed national strategic development that has the potential to adversely impact on the receiving environment.
The project developers have arrived at a proposal that keeps the adverse impacts “within acceptable levels in my opinion”, apart from the impact on the local architectural heritage from the demolition of a chapel and historic house.
Mr Rabbette says the development has the potential to adversely impact local road traffic, but the mitigation measures proposed should keep this to acceptable levels.
Campaigners against the siting of the project in St James’s had claimed it made too little provision for parking, and staff parking in particular, but Mr Rabbette says in his report: “I accept that the modal split proposed for the use of the private car by staff is ambitious, but there is nothing on file to indicate that it is not achievable.”
Connectivity
Of all the sites considered over the planning process, no other site enjoys such connectivity, and many would struggle to comply with national transport policies, according to Mr Rabbette.
“Notwithstanding this connectivity, those needing to access the services at the NCH by car will be accommodated. It is not the aim of the applicant to force those travelling with sick children to use public transport. The applicant has indicated that on-site car parking will be available for patients’ families and visitors if required.”
Physical impacts
Mr Rabbette says there will be significant positive physical impacts from the proposal at local level. “The site at the moment is introverted, responds poorly to the surrounding public domain and does little for the urban environment. That will all change with the proposal.”
The hospital will have 1,000 parking spaces – 675 for families, and 325 for staff, though this latter number will be further reduced as a result of a condition imposed by An Bord Pleanála for the provision of 20 "parent and child" parking spaces.
The total parking provision for the entire St James’s campus will then be 880 for staff and 1,131 for visitors. This represents a reduction of 244 staff parking spaces, according to the report.
The plan is to halve the proportion of staff driving to work from the current level of 54 per cent. At present just 2 per cent of St James’s staff use the Luas that passes through the hospital - a figure Mr Rabbette describes as “somewhat astonishing”.
Arguments in favour of siting the hospital on a greenfield site on the M50 are flawed, the report says, because they assume “unfettered” access off a national primary route and to on-site car parking. Transport policies do not support such a strategy and there is no guarantee against congestion on the M50, it says.
This oval-shaped ward block will provide “a local architectural landmark” and will be a positive contribution to the city skyscape at this location, it adds.
