Developer lodges new plan for Stillorgan site

Planning: Galloping Green Developments has come back with a new planning application for a mixed scheme on a 11

Planning: Galloping Green Developments has come back with a new planning application for a mixed scheme on a 11.32-acre site in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, after its last one was rejected by both Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and An Bord Pleanála - and was unpopular with local residents groups.

A consortium that includes property developer David Arnold, Galloping Green Developments paid €31.75 million for the site around three years ago.

It is one of the best-located development sites in south Dublin, having extensive frontage on to both Stillorgan Road and Brewery Road, with a public park and Leopardstown Tennis Club running along a third boundary. The new plan is scaled down slightly and its highest apartment block is eight storeys - in the previous application, the development ranged from three to 12 storeys.

The previous proposal was for 536 apartments and 99 student apartments as well as 54 social housing units. This time around there are 525 residential units and 760 car spaces - reduced by 130 from the last application.

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Several aspects of the proposal remain the same, including an 86-bed nursing home, two retail units and a creche and 4,154 sq m (44,713sq ft) of offices.

The last application was turned down by the board, which voted in favour of the inspector's recommendation that the 12-storey element was unacceptable.

Michael Dillon, an inspector with An Bord Pleanála, recommended that the county council's refusal be upheld because of "the utilitarian character of public open space areas, the poor quality private open space provision for future apartment dwellers, the overshadowed nature of open space areas and the lack of a central focus or heart to the scheme".

He concluded that the provision of car-parking space was excessive, given the proximity of the site to a public transport corridor and future Luas station.

Edel Morgan

Edel Morgan

Edel Morgan is Special Reports Editor of The Irish Times