Our Lady’s Grove – Phase 2 Update
The Religious of Jesus and Mary have decided to sell, without planning permission, the Phase 2 Land (this is the land at the back left hand side of the Education Campus on which the original primary school stood) for residential development purposes. The land was advertised for sale in the Wednesday 8th March edition of the Irish Times.
This is surprising news, as they had originally been working with property consultants WK Nowlan to get planning permission before attempting to sell.
Click here to view the online sales brochure.
Click here to view the ad in The Irish Times.
So far as we know, these lands are zoned as “Institutional”. (If there are any resident planning professionals among our members, perhaps they might offer their services?). This means there are certain conditions that must be adhered to from a planning point of view. You can read more about this here, in the DLR County Development Plan 2016 – 2022, 8.2 Development Management, page 179, Section XI Institutional Lands. Of particular interest is:
“A minimum open space provision of 25% of the total site area (or a population based provision in accordance with Section 8.2.8.2 whichever is the greater) will be required on Institutional Lands. This provision must be sufficient to maintain the open character of the site – with development proposals built around existing features and layout, particularly by reference to retention of trees, boundary walls and other features as considered necessary by the Council.”
The schools currently have no grassed areas the school children can use, and have to walk all the way to Rosemount field if this is required. Only time will tell if even a small part of this land will be available for public use. Let’s hope the planners will take this into consideration when granting permission, as the vendors certainly didn’t.