Certificate of exemption sought for the development of new Castle Lawns home

A certificate of exemption is sought for the development of a new home in an estate off the Castletymon Road on a 176.8 sqm site.

An application has been made to the council seeking a certificate of exemption from Section 96 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to move forward with plans to construct a three-bedroom two-storey home in Castle Lawns, Tallaght by the side of an existing dwelling.

Section 96 discusses the terms that applicants are expected to comply with to meet the housing needs of a local authority, and an exemption through Section 97 allows a developer or developers to avoid the necessity of supplying units within their development for social or affordable housing.

To meet the requirements, the development must be for four or fewer houses and also be smaller than 0.1 hectares in size – the site area where the development has been proposed is 0.01768 ha, according to the application form.

The proposed site is bordered by 98 Castle Lawns and is located adjacent to the Tallaght Sports Complex and Tallaght Community School, and the Section 96 exemption sought would allow the developer to bypass social and affordable housing requirements when carrying out works on the development.

The applicant tied to the proposal is Elizabeth Sheehan. An older granted application from 2008 relating to a similar proposal to create a 98A Castle Lawns is credited to a Liz Sheehan, and the property is described as site pegged to be developed upon is described as “freehold” in the application form for the newer proposal.

Freehold means that a person or group has outright ownership of both a property and the land it sits on for an indefinite period of time.