Suncroft House apartments and houses gets go-ahead after appeal

THE decision to refuse permission for the demolition of Suncroft House in Ballymount to make way for the construction of four houses and five apartments has been successfully appealed.

Applicant Derek McDonnell initially lodged the application for the development, comprising four two-storey-plus-attic-floor houses and five apartments, in March 2021.

The proposed development was a point of contention in the local community, with the planning application attracting a total of 43 third-party submissions.

Concerns raised in the submissions included loss of privacy and overshadowing in houses near the development, while the height was also cited as a concern.

In May 2021, Sth Dublin County Council decided to refuse permission for the development on a number of grounds.

These grounds included the council’s view that the development would “have an overbearing visual impact on adjoining properties and would seriously injure the amenities of property in the vicinity.”

The council found that it would have “a detrimental visual impact on surrounding properties”.

It stated the development was deficient because of a lack of a privacy strip between the ground-floor bedrooms and the central open space, and because of the development’s rear gardens and central open space being “excessively overshadowed”.

In June 2021, the applicant, Derek McDonnell lodged an appeal against the council’s decision to An Bord Pleanála (ABP).

Last month, the appeals board ruled that the development could go ahead, thereby overturning South Dublin County Council’s decision to refuse permission.

In its decision to grant permission, ABP ruled that the development “would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity.”