Meeting requested to discuss apartment plan at Taylors Lane

A DEVELOPER has lodged a request for a meeting with South Dublin County Council about a proposed 398-unit apartment development at Taylor’s Lane in Rathfarnham.

Shannon Homes submitted the meeting request under recently enacted Large Residential Developments (LRD) legislation.

LRD legislation replaces the old Strategic Housing Development (SHD) system, which allowed developers to bypass local authorities and submit planning applications directly to An Bord Pleanála.

Part of the LRD legislation requires developers to meet with local authorities before submitting formal planning applications to the council.

In their request for a meeting, Shannon Homes outlined their plans for the demolition of the existing former institutional buildings and associated outbuildings, covering an area of circa 5,231 sq.m.

The proposed demolition is to make way for the construction of 398 residential units within three apartment/duplex blocks (over basement carparks), ranging in height from two- to five-storeys.

The subject site was previously primed for a 496-unit SHD, which was approved by An Bord Pleanála.

However, An Bord Pleanála’s decision was subsequently quashed after Ballyboden Tidy Towns brought High Court action to overturn the appeals board’s decision.

The High Court judgement, which was reached last January, ruled that the development failed to recognise and address a material contravention of the County Development Plan in relation to density.

The SHD also failed to consider a relevant consideration as to the capacity of the public transport network and give adequate reasons for its decision on density in that context, according to the High Court ruling.

A decision on Shannon Homes’s meeting request for its current planning proposal has not yet been made.

Depending on the outcome of the meeting, the applicant may be able to submit a full planning application.