Equestrian facility owner lodges appeal against decision to refuse development
By Aideen O'Flaherty
THE owner of an equestrian facility in Newcastle has lodged an appeal against South Dublin County Council’s decision to refuse permission for the development of a single-storey dwelling and three stable buildings at his site in Athgoe North.
Ian Haughan, the owner of Ian Haughan Equine, lodged plans for the erection of a 156sq.m single-storey house, three stable buildings to accommodate 18 horses, a feed shed and an equestrian store totalling 267sq.m at the site of the facility.
The site in Newcastle
Permission was also sought for an equestrian courtyard, a sand arena, a horse wash bay, a platform for storing equestrian waste, a domestic proprietary waste water treatment system and a polishing filter.
Provision of ancillary site works to include the drilling of a well, creation of a link to the mains water supply, construction of a driveway and site landscaping, were included in the plans, which were submitted last August.
South Dublin County Council refused permission for the development last month, citing a number of concerns, including rural housing policy, the potential visual impact of the development, and the local authority’s view that the development would set an “undesirable precedent” for similar developments.
Farry Town Planning Limited, with an address in Dublin 2, lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála on Ian Haughan’s behalf in late October, against the council’s decision to refuse permission.
The grounds for the appeal, according to the applicant, include their concerns that the council’s rural housing test in the County Development Plan is discriminatory, and in relation to visual amenity, they stated that council did not “identify any locations or vantage points from whence this development would be visually injurious”.
In their concluding comment, Farry Town Planning stated: “All rural housing has the potential to adversely affect visual amenity and the key issue in any case comprises whether a site is so hypersensitive that it cannot accommodate a building, or where a proposed dwelling is physically inappropriate.
“We do not consider that this development is unacceptable under either of these headings, and we equally do not believe that the council actually opposes the proposed house on this basis.”
A decision on the appeal has not yet been made by An Bord Pleanála.
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