Bartra withdraws appeal over Cookstown care facility refusal

BARTRA Property Cookstown Limited has withdrawn its appeal relating to the development of a site at the Cookstown Industrial Estate following the denial of a planning application.

In April, South Dublin County Council’s Planning Department denied an application which sought to demolish all existing commercial/industrial structures on the site to construct a transitional care facility.

In May, the applicant submitted an appeal against this decision, which was withdrawn this month.

In 2024, planning permission was denied by SDCC for a care facility on the same site and for a “deck-access apartment development comprising 123 residential units arranged in two blocks”, each five to seven storeys in height.

The planning report for the new application stated that “all residential elements have been removed from the proposal”, and it is “solely for the development of a Transitional Care Facility with the aim to deliver enhanced community care, reduce the dependency on the current hospital-centric model of care and supporting capacity building in the community”.

The plans for Unit 21 involved the construction of a one- to four-storey facility “providing therapy and treatment space and a pharmacy and general practitioners space at ground floor level and 171 bedspaces at first to third floor levels”.

As well as landscaped areas and outdoor amenities, including a “pocket park”, plans also called for the construction of “a coffee dock area, hairdresser, comms rooms, toilets, staff changing facilities, kitchen area, laundry rooms, lobbies/reception areas, admin areas, storage spaces, staff canteen, LV switch room, mains/ sprinkler tank room/ boiler room, multipurpose rooms, dining rooms, meeting and office rooms, sluice rooms, nurses stations” and storage areas.

It was envisaged that patients from Tallaght University Hospital could be “discharged directly to the proposed facility”, prior to the denial of planning permission.

SDCC cited the location of the proposed site as its main reason for its decision to deny planning permission, as it is “located centrally in an industrial area where the adjoining land uses are low density industrial/commercial in nature and where the existing environment for pedestrian and cyclist is substandard.”

As stated in the Chief Executive’s Order, the proposed development would be physically isolated from high-quality pedestrian and cyclist link and key public transport towards the town centre, constituting a “poor standard of amenity” for prospective occupants, visitors and staff.

The plans are contrary to the proper planning and development of the area, set out in the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022- 2028, which includes the desire to avoid ‘leapfrogging’ to stand-alone or isolated areas.

“Objective IS 1 of the Local Area Plan sets out that development of the identified regeneration lands in Cookstown should generally be phased whereby ‘development should extend outwards from the town centre and high-quality public transport, with land closest to the centre and public transport nodes being given preference,” according to the Order.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme