Local authority refuse development due to impact on protected structure

SOUTH Dublin County Council have refused permission for a residential development at Wit’s End in Scholarstown due to the impact on a protected structure located adjacent to the proposed site.

The proposal provides five four-bed two-storey houses at The Rookery, which is located adjacent to Mount Michael House, a protected structure described as an “attractive Georgian house.”

Despite the applicant, Rosemount Properties & Developments Limited, stating in the Cover Letter that the “sensitivities of the site, including the relationship to surrounding residential properties”, have been “carefully considered by the design team”, SDCC denied permission due to the “overall visual impact on the protected structure and its setting.”

The application called for the construction of five detached dwellings on 0.35 hecatres, ten car parking spaces, a new internal access road and the widening of the existing vehicular access from The Rookery, as well as four new boundary treatments and entrance gates to Mount Michael House.

The proposal also provides 436m2 of public open space at the site entrance as well as an additional 125m2 of landscaped open space at the western end of the site.

According to the Cover Letter, the scheme was designed to “minimise impact on adjoining properties while achieving a sustainable quantum of development as required by national and local planning policy.”

In 2019, a planning permission application was granted on appeal by An Bord Pleanála for a development which sought the demolition of outbuildings and construction of six two-storey houses. This permission was not put into effect and has since lapsed.

SDCC referred to this application when making its decision, with the Chief Executive’s Order stating that the applicant “has failed to take account of the previous concerns raised and reasons for refusal of the previous planning application.”

Permission was refused for this proposal due to the design of the development not adequately reflecting and complementing the distinct site setting. The Chief Executive’s Order on this application called for any new buildings on the grounds to complement the site and not dominate the existing site “by way of scale, design or subdivision of sites.”

The 2026 application reads that the “proposed house types complement the existing mix provided within the adjacent Rookery development and the apartment scheme to the south.”

SDCC found that the applicant failed to take account of the previous concerns raised and reasons for refusal of the previous planning application.

“The proposed development is highly visible within the site and when entering the site.  By nature of their overall design and mass, the proposed dwellings are not a sensitive house type within the existing site.”

Five third party submissions were received regarding the proposed development. A submission received noted no opposition to the principle of infill development, but detailed concerns regarding the current proposal.

The submissions referred to access to lands serving Mount Michael House being maintained, as well as the possibility of overshadowing and loss of light as well as the capacity of existing services, with reference to UE foul drainage system and existing water pressure issues, amongst many others.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme