An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for over 230 housing units at the former Premier Dairies site in Dublin 14, bringing an end to a long running planning battle in Churchtown.

St James Developments, a subsidiary of Capel Developments, has been given the all clear to build 55 terraced houses and 178 apartments at the site.

Controlled by Liam Kelly, Edward Keegan and John O'Connor, the company has been trying to get planning on the 3.47-hectare site since it was acquired in 1999. The permitted development is significantly smaller than the last scheme proposed by the developers - a 400-unit development. This was refused by An Bord Pleanála in 2005. At the time, the board cited the high proportion of single-aspect apartments, the scheme's density and the generally small size of apartments in its refusal.

It was one of a number of controversial refusals for high-density schemes in south Dublin by the board at the time.

This scaled-down scheme was given approval by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council late last year but it was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by locals, including Churchtown West Residents Association, which maintained that the density of the development was excessive.

In recommending a grant of permission, the board's inspector was, however, critical of the fact that 42 per cent of the apartments in the scheme were one-beds.

As a result, the board has ruled that a number of the proposed apartments must be amalgamated to reduce the proportion of single bedroom apartments and limit the amount of north or east-facing single aspect apartments. This has resulted in the loss of 26 units.

In addition, the board said seven terraced units must be omitted to make way for more public open space which must be laid out as a children's play area.

The inspector welcomed the fact that 20 per cent of the site has been earmarked for social and affordable housing but said it was "unfortunate that the proposal does not distribute the social and affordable housing throughout the wider development in order to improve integration and avoid segregation".