Dunnes Stores seeking drop of €217,000 in planning fees

BETTER Value Unlimited Company, with an address at Dunnes Stores’ head office on South Great George’s Street, is seeking a reduction of over €217k in the financial contribution it’s required to pay.

The contribution is one of the conditions of a grant of permission that the company received for an extension to the Kilnamanagh Shopping Centre in Tallaght.

Last month, the company lodged an appeal against the rate of the financial contribution required by South Dublin County Council, totalling €448,074.12.

In its appeal, Better Value Unlimited claimed there had been a miscalculation and that the correct figure for the financial contribution should be €230,703.36.

It claims this miscalculation arose as the council erroneously charged them twice for the first-floor extension portion of the planning application, as both change of use and new floorspace.

The appeal also noted that development contributions were previously paid on the first-floor floorspace and a later change of use in two previous planning applications and these payments should be deducted from the financial contribution for the current planning application.

The current planning application for a two-storey extension to the shopping centre and the change of use of a retail premises to a gym and health centre was approved by the council last November.

A decision on the appeal has not yet been made by An Bord Pleanála.