This follows Mr FitzPatrick and his wife, Catriona lodging an appeal to An Bord Pleanala against last month’s decision by Wicklow County Council refusing planning permission for their proposal at Meadow Garden, Farm Lane, Greystones.
The FitzPatricks had lodged revised plans for the home in June but they were not enough to prevent a refusal by the Council.
The Council refused planning permission after concluding that the new home has the potential to result in new and significant overlooking of neighbouring properties.
The council stated that overlooking concerns arose particularly from the proposed home’s first floor terraces and their proximity to the boundary.
The revised plans were lodged on behalf of the Fitzpatricks to demonstrate that their development would not have a significant impact on the residential amenities and privacy of adjoining properties.
The planning authority refused planning after one objecting neighbour, Fintan Graham told the Council that it is with regret “that I find the resubmitted plans fail to address the significant impact of the build on the privacy and consequent negative impact on the amenities of our adjoining property”.
The Council planner in the case stated that she was not satisfied that the revised plans adequately address the concerns of the planning authority with respect to the potential impact of the proposed development on the amenities of adjoining properties.
She stated: “In particular I am not satisfied that the applicants have demonstrated that new overlooking will not result from the proposed first floor terrace areas and given the proximity of the proposed terraced areas to adjoining properties, in particular Rosella to the west, it is not considered that the provision of additional planting along the site boundary would be sufficient."
Key revisions
The Council refused planning in spite of planning consultant for the FitzPatricks, Kevin Hughes of Hughes Planning and Development Consultants arguing in his submission to the Council that “the appropriately scaled development will not give rise to any undue impacts on the amenity of any adjacent properties”.
The Fitzpatricks made a number of key revisions to the proposal to address the privacy concerns including the introduction of 1.8m high hedging and the planting of six pre-mature yew trees along the boundary separating the home from neighbours’ properties.
The Hughes planning report points out even without the revisions being made, there is already limited visibility of adjoining neighbours’ properties to the east and west.
The new FitzPatrick home was to replace a single-storey, fire-damaged dwelling known as Meadow Garden.
The FitzPatricks held on to their home, Camaderry, next to Greystones Golf Club after Mr FitzPatrick was declared a bankrupt in 2010 with debts of €147 million and assets of €47 million in the wake of the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank.
