An Bord Pleanála has approved plans for a €300m apartment scheme to provide over 600 new housing units in south Dublin, despite objections from groups of local residents.
The decision clears the way for the development of 636 apartments at Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Milltown by a subsidiary of the real estate investment firm, Ardstone.
The project provides for a mix of studios, apartments and duplex units over seven blocks ranging from two to 10 stories in height as well as a creche and outdoor play area on a 4.26-hectare site.
The plans also involve the demolition of the 18th century Milltown Park House and several other buildings.
They also provide for the refurbishment of Tabor House and the Chapel within the grounds of Milltown Park for cultural/community space and extra residential amenities as well as a new access point on Milltown Road.
An Bord Pleanála upheld the earlier ruling by Dublin City Council to grant planning permission to Sandford Living under the Large-Scale Residential Development process.
It rejected a number of appeals, including several by local residents’ groups from Norwood Park and Cherryfield Avenue.
A total of 67 third-party observations, which raised concerns similar to the appellants, were also received by the board.
However, it concluded that the proposed development would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of the area or other properties in the vicinity.
The board said the development was consistent with national and local planning policy and was acceptable in terms of design, scale, height, mix and quantum of housing.
It said the project would also constitute an acceptable residential density given the size of the site and its location close to a range of public transport options.
Consultants for Norwood Park Residents’ Association had claimed the proposed development was “at an unacceptable scale at this location.”
Cherryfield Avenue Residents’ Association said they could not understand how the lands, under their current zoning status, could be used for almost wholly residential use when they were needed for future community facilities.
The group claimed the site had the potential for the development of hospitals, schools and sports facilities as well as open space.
Other concerns raised included excessive height, density and the overbearing impact of the proposed development as well as excessive loss of habitat.
Sandford Living stated the building heights complied with planning policy while the level of tree removal was to facilitate the provision of a new public park.
Consultants for the developer said the principal goal of the development would be “to open up the site to the wider community through provision of an extensive range of open spaces, to bring historic buildings back into active use and to increase housing supply on a strategically located large plot of underutilised land.”
A planning inspector for An Bord Pleanála expressed satisfaction that the development would make a positive contribution to the area.
The inspector said the neighbourhood would also have the capacity to absorb buildings of the height proposed.
Ardstone paid €65 million in 2019 for the site of the former Jesuit lands at Milltown Park close to Gonzaga College.
An Bord Pleanála had previously conceded a High Court challenge against a large-scale, build-to-rent scheme that had been granted planning permission on the same site and which provided for 667 apartments.
The board decided that it would not contest a number of judicial review cases against several proposed developments including the Milltown Park scheme after objectors raised questions of objective bias on the part of the board’s former deputy chairperson, Paul Hyde, because of familial connections to several projects.
