Residents angered by green light for Offaly house demolition

RESIDENTS of the Clara Road in Tullamore have said they are angered by An Bord Pleanála's decision to allow the demolition of a house to make way for a construction entrance to the new Redwood residential development.

In a statement released this week by a spokesperson, Clara Road Residents Association outlined how they had submitted observations on the demolition application in early August 2022.

The submission to Offaly County Council was signed by 75 residents who were then “alarmed at the speed” at which the council granted planning permission on August 22.

The spokesperson said the consent was granted without requesting any further information “considering that a total of 21 observation and objections were submitted by local residents and four Tullamore Municipal County Councillors”.

On September 15 2022, the Clara Road Residents Association appealed to An Bord Pleanála and also requested an oral hearing but were told on November 22 the request was turned down and “written procedures” would be adequate to determine the appeal.

The spokesperson said: “It is a statutory objective of An Bord Pleanála to ensure that every appeal received is determined within eighteen weeks beginning on the date of receipt of that appeal and An Bord Pleanála were due to decide on the case by the 24th of January 2023. However on the 23rd of January 2023, An Bord Pleanála notified the Clara Road Residents Association that 'The Board hereby serves notice under section 126(3)(a) that it will not be possible to determine the case within the statutory objective period due to a backlog of cases. The Board now intends to determine the above appeal before the 17th April 2023'.”

On April 14 last the Residents Association received further notification from An Bord Pleanála informing them of a further delay.

Permission was granted for the demolition on November 28 last, subject to five conditions.

The board said “the proposed creation of a construction access along a speed controlled section of a regional road within the town of Tullamore, to serve development currently under construction, which has sub-optimal construction access, would facilitate the construction of residential development on appropriately zoned land, would unduly impact on pedestrians or other users of the public road, would not seriously injure the amenities of residents in the vicinity, and would, therefore, be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”

The association spokeperson said residents were “enraged that in their view the following concerns were not adequately addressed by An Bord Pleanála - nature, scale and the use of the proposed development, issues raised in the planning assessment, third party submissions, existing pattern of development in the vicinity, the current Development Plan, the interests of residential amenity, pre-planning consultations, the interests of proper planning and sustainable development of the area, and the request for an oral hearing.

The associaton said documents relating to An Bord Pleanála case reference number 314599 granting permission for the demolition of the house on the Clara Road, Tullamore to create a construction entrance can be viewed on the Bord Pleanála website.

They applied for permission to create a second temporary entrance by demolishing the house and then attempted to use a different entrance at another point along the road but were ordered to close it after it became subject of an enforcement notice.

There are over 100 houses in the first phase and more than 170 residential units are planned for the remainder of the site, which is known locally as Kearney's Field.

The permission for the entrance at the site of the demolished house is limited to five years, unless the council allows its retention.