Offaly housing scheme cleared for construction by An Bord Pleanala
AN Bord Pleanala has upheld a decision by Offaly County Council to grant planning permission for a new scheme of houses in Tullamore. In doing so the Board disagreed with its own inspector who had recommended that the permission be denied.
The proposed site is located at Church Road and is accessed from Oakfield via the existing Hophill Avenue and The Cedars residential estates.
The application in the name of James Spollen is dated April 29 2022, and is for permission for 95 houses comprising of two storey detached, semi-detached and terraced dwellings containing two and three bedrooms
Offaly County Council granted permission for the development on May 23, 2023 and included 23 conditions. It was appealed to An Bord Pleanala by a number of residents.
One appellant observed that the notice ''did not state that the roadway into the development would be located in the Oakfield estate.''
It said that there had been,'' no thought or consideration for the health and safety of children by Offaly County Council who will be allowing the developer to needlessly destroy the only recreational area in the Oakfield Estate. It said Offaly County Council did not commission a traffic survey regarding the amount of traffic the roadway will bring through Oakfield.''
The appellant said there was ''ample space'' for a roundabout in The Cedars, with a road running diagonally from it, leaving Oakfield green area intact.
The Hophill Cedars Residents Association made an observation in which they said the decision by Offaly County Council was ''overly one-sided, questionable and not in the best interests of orderly and sustainable development.''
The An Bord Pleanala inspector recommended that planning permission be refused on the grounds that, ''the proposed development, would materially contravene the Offaly County Development Plan 2021-2027, being partly located on land zoned for open space.''
However, the Board said it decided to grant permission on the grounds that drawings by the applicant ''clarified the position of the houses relative to the open space zoning.''
It said that the ''Board noted that the houses number 1-4 are in an area where the zoning objective is 'New Residential'.The Board concluded that the limited infringement into the open space zoning is not material.''
It said that the Offaly County Development plan recognises the need for some flexibility and concurred with the local planning authority that the scheme as proposed accorded with the development plan.
It decided not to accept the inspector's recommendations to refuse permission as it said that issues raised in the appeal ''have been satisfactorily addressed in the application.''