Category Archives: Planning

The Department of Education has lodged a planning application for the construction of the permanent school buildings on the old IGB site. (The school buildings currently on site are temporary buildings.) They are planning to construct a 16-classroom primary school and a 1,000 pupil secondary school. 

The proposed secondary school is to be part 4 storey and includes the provision of 1 no. general purpose hall and 1 no. PE hall and c. 1,374 sqm rooftop play space including 2 no. ball courts. The proposed primary school is to be part 3 storey and is to include the provision of 1 no. general purpose hall and a c. 489 sqm rooftop play space. The development will also include the provision of 6 no. ballcourts; all hard and soft play areas including an outdoor gym area; sensory gardens, the removal of most of the existing trees etc. They appear to be including the possibility of another smaller pedestrian entrance on the south (Taney Avenue) side, however it is uncertain if this will be opened. They state on the plans: “Potential future pedestrian & cycle access point. Works required by Others to facilitate pedestrian/cycle permeability route to Taney Avenue.“.

You can see some photo montages taken from the planning application below. You can find all planning documents on the DLR website, the planning reference is: D24A/0619. The final date for observations is 16th Sep 2024.

Update 27/9/24: Please see here for the observation we submitted in respect of this planning application.

Update 4/10/24: The Council has reverted with a “Request for Further Information“. Disappointingly the planners don’t appear to have an issue with the proposed unnecessary raising of the ground level, or the overbearing impact on one particular residence. The Planner’s Report can be found here. The Department has 6 months to respond.

It has been reported in the Irish Independent recently that the Land Development Agency plans to submit a new planning application via the Large Scale Residential Development planning process (LRD). This is the process that has replaced the SHD process.

In advance of this new planning application, and also in response to comments by the Chair of the LDA, John Coleman in a recent Joint Oireachtas Committee meeting, we decided to write to the LDA. We outlined our expectations regarding the coming application, as well as a recap of all previous communication with the LDA. We copied the Chair of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Frank Curran.

You can view this letter here.

Update May ’24: You may have read that An Bord Pleanála has conceded the case in relation to the Judicial Review brought by a resident of Friarsland Road against the LDA’s plan to build 852 units on the site of the former Central Mental Hospital. The LDA has since confirmed it will continue to defend the permission in the High Court, and is continuing with the case.

The old convent building, Roebuck Grove House, that has become derelict over the last few years, is being proposed as the location for a 29 unit hostel. The final date for observations on this planning application is 8th April 2024, and the planning reference number is: D24A/0133

Here is the link to DLR County Council’s planning website.

Some images etc. take from the Planning Report the applicant has submitted. This document can be found on the DLR Planning website.

Edit 19/4/24: Please see here for the observation we submitted in respect of this planning application.

Edit 29/4/24: DLRCoCo Planning Department has refused permission. The applicant has initiated an appeal with An Bord Pleanála, ABP-319774-24.

Edit 17/6/24: Please see here for the observation we submitted in respect of this appeal.

An Bord Pleanála have made their decision regarding the Central Mental Hospital SHD planning application. Permission has been granted.

There are various conditions attached. A very brief overview of some of these conditions are:

• Quite a few studio and 1 bed units are to be combined to create new 2 bed and 3 bed units. These proposed amendments would result in a new total of 852 units, down from 977 units. They note that this is in line with the wishes of the Council.
• One vehicle access point on Dundrum Road. (The LDA had proposed two. One where the current entrance is, and one further south, towards the shopping centre direction.). ABP are directing that only the one to the south be retained for car traffic. The other one is to be used for bikes, pedestrians and emergency vehicles.
• A specification in respect of the height (1.8m) of a planted screen along the southern boundary of the area of open space at Block 4 (located at the corner of Friarsland and Larchfield Roads).
• The removal of a (relatively) small three storey building to the northwest of Annaville.
• Various windows to be removed, moved, some to contain obscure glazing, on blocks 8, 9 and 10, which are all on the eastern (Annaville) side of the site.
• Building works to be carried out between 7am and 7pm Mon to Fri, 8am to 2pm Sat.
• A piece of public art within the site is required.

The full 60 page document from An Bord Pleanála can be found online here.

What’s next? There is a period of eight weeks now where a Judicial Review could potentially be initiated. After that, the decision is set in stone, so to speak, and the LDA can move full steam ahead if they so wish.

The Judicial Review that two residents of The Grove took in respect of the SHD student residence development on the Our Lady’s Grove campus was successful. Although the judgement has been made and the case won, the current situation is that the Judge’s final decision regarding whether it should be sent back to the Board for reconsideration or simply quashed, is now linked to a separate High Court action being taken by the developer. Colbeam has taken a case against Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in respect of the Council rezoning the site in the latest County Development Plan.

Edit 17/9/24: The current High Court case (Colbeam vs DLRCoCo) has recently resulted in the judge instructing the Councillors to vote on whether or not the Council CEO should defend the case. This vote was passed unanimously. The case is ongoing.

The Goatstown Local Area Plan (LAP) has been officially scrapped by the Council. What is an LAP? LAPs are the furthest down the chain in the hierarchy of development plans used by the government/ Councils to determine planning rules/ guidelines in Ireland. There used to be one for the Goatstown area, however after rolling it over without updating it four years ago, the time had come, apparently, to completely scrap it. When questioned about this at our recent yearly deputation meeting with the Council, we were told some provision has been made within the County Development Plan in respect of Goatstown – in particular the inclusion of a Specific Local Objective (SLO) to designate The Goat area as more of a village centre, rather than just purely residential. So that’s it basically, our very own LAP distilled down to an SLO on a map.

The Goatstown LAP had been pretty much useless in recent years (with national legislation trumping even County Development Plans), but it was a nice dream to have while it lasted, i.e. that local development plans might actually influence development and planning in local areas. If you think this is a backward step, we recommend you contact the County Councillors.

DLR Council has very recently (15/2/23) granted permission for the temporary buildings for Goatstown Educate Together Secondary School on the IGB site. The Council’s Request for Further Information was answered by the Department at the start of February, and issues such as permeability were approached more to the Council’s liking.

The end result is there will be three pedestrian/cyclist entrances to the site, at Mount Carmel Road, Farmhill Road and the original entrance at Goatstown Road, with a new vehicular entrance on Goatstown Road, a little further north than the current one. There will also be a new pelican pedestrian crossing close to the current entrance.

The pedestrian/cyclist entrances on Mount Carmel and Farmhill Roads will be open 8am-9pm weekdays. The paths through the site will be fenced and there will be no public access to the open land at the back of the site. (The temporary school buildings will be located more to the front/Goatstown Road side of the site.)

You can see the Association’s observation on the RFI here.

The two residents in The Grove who took on a judicial review in respect of the SHD student resident development on the Our Lady’s Grove campus have been successful. Justice David Holland’s judgement of 17/2/23, quashes the planning permission on four grounds:
– Open Character of site (Para 149-181)
– Density (Para 182-229)
– Daylight Analysis, SPPR3 (Para 378-470)
– Tree Planting – Commensurate Trees Condition (Para 522-591)

He adjourned to later this month the question of whether it should be sent back to the board for reconsideration or simply quashed. His provisional view was also that the couple should be awarded their costs.

Some links to media articles about the judgement:
Breakingnews.ie
Extra.ie
Irish Times

The Council has replied to the Department of Education’s latest planning application for the IGB site. In the Notification of Request for Further Information, dated 2/9/22, the Council wants the site to be opened for pedestrian/cyclist permeability between Goatstown Road, Farmhill Road, Mount Carmel Road and Taney Avenue. They also want the land at the back to be publicly accessible. This is as per the conditions of the zoning on the site (F zoning). However they do say that as it’s an application for temporary buildings, they will consider time-limited openings, and also fenced-off areas, where required.

We believe the Department has up to 6 months to respond. Very disappointing for the schools, who need to be move onto this site as soon as possible.