ABP says ‘no’ to three-storey Colberts Fort apartments
By Aideen O'Flaherty
A PROPERTY developer’s appeal against South Dublin County Council’s decision to refuse permission for the construction of a three-storey apartment building and a house at Colberts Fort on the Belgard Road in Tallaght has been unsuccessful.
Templemount Developments Ltd lodged an application for planning permission with the local authority last February, seeking permission for the development of a three-storey apartment building, to contain eight apartments, and one end-of-terrace, two-storey house.
The site at Colberts Fort was refused permission by An Bord Pleanála
The site
Provision for 11 car-parking spaces and 20 bicycle-parking spaces was also included in the application.
The plans attracted two third-party submissions from local residents in Colberts Fort, who objected to the plans for a variety of reasons, including concerns about the road into the area being “totally inadequate” for the volume of traffic the development would bring, the parking issues it could create and the location being a “bungalow area”.
South Dublin County Council refused permission in April on a number of grounds, including the view that the development would “contravene council policy”, and would have an “overbearing impact” on nearby residences as a result of its height.
Templemount lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála (ABP) in late April against the council’s decision, where they stated that the development would “make a positive contribution” to the area, and that it would represent a “high quality” housing scheme adjacent to nearby amenities.
The site at Colberts Fort was refused permission by An Bord Pleanála
The developer added that the proposed development would “revitalise an under-utilised vacant site in a prime location”, and that they considered the proposed height of the development to be “appropriately scaled and in keeping with the character of the area”.
ABP upheld the council’s decision, when the appeals body ruled to refuse permission for the development on August 21, with the view that the development would “provide a poor standard of development with inadequate levels of residential amenity for future occupiers”.
In its decision, ABP also stated that the development “would not provide adequate, well-designed communal amenity space in a secure and usable form.”
