Green light given to plans for 735 residential units in Cork
An Bord Pleanála has given the green light for plans to construct 735 residential units in Ballyvolane on the outskirts of Cork city.
The appeals board has granted planning permission to Cork company, Longview Estates Ltd in spite of its own inspector recommending that planning permission be refused.
The scheme is made up of 531 homes and 222 apartments on lands located in the townland of Lahardane, 3km north of Cork city.
The site consists of a number of large fields currently used for tillage farming and is identified as an Urban Expansion Area in a local area plan.
The developers were seeking a 10-year planning permission for the development over six phases that will also include a local centre that includes retail, a doctor’s surgery, a creche and community.
However, the appeals board has granted a seven-year permission in order to speed up the delivery of the homes.
The plan faced some local opposition and at the end of her 32-page report into the plan, Senior An Bord Pleanala planning inspector, Karen Hamilton recommended that planning permission be refused on three grounds.
She found that the density of the development would not be at a sufficiently high density to provide for an acceptable efficiency in serviceable land usage given the proximity of the site to Cork city.
Ms Hamilton also found that the proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard.
However, the appeals board has granted planning after concluding that the proposed development had an acceptable density of 35 homes a hectare.
The board also found that after the omission of a proposed access road onto a local road to the north of the site, the proposed development would not endanger public safety through traffic.
The appeals board found that the plan would not seriously injure the visual or residential amenities of the area and would be acceptable in terms of urban design.
Local business had supported the plan but objectors had raised concerns over residential amenity; the design and layout of the development along with traffic and transport.
Cork City Council offers its support for the plan.
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