Broadcaster Pat Kenny and his wife, Kathy, and their neighbours have won their long-running battle against plans to construct a five-storey, 104-unit nursing home on lands in Dalkey.
An Coimisiún Pleanála has refused planning permission to Richard Barrett’s Bartra Property (Dublin) Ltd to build the nursing home at Yonder, Ulverton Road and Harbour Road in Dalkey on land that borders the Kenny family home.
The refusal marks the end of a marathon planning dispute dating back to January 2021 when plans were first lodged. The commission refused permission for the development as the main access road for the nursing home “would have insufficient capacity to safely accommodate the intensified level of vehicular movements generated by the proposed development”.
The commission said this was due to the restricted width of both the carriageway and the adjacent footpath, the length of this narrow access road/laneway and the lack of designated vehicle passing points along its length or close to its junction with Harbour Road.
Is it time Ireland abolished mandatory retirement?
As a result, the commission concluded that the proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and obstruction of road users and would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
The ruling reverses a grant of permission issued by the then An Bord Pleanála in July 2023.
That decision was quashed and the case was sent back to An Bord Pleanála after the Kennys and their neighbours successfully brought a High Court challenge against the An Bord Pleanála decision.
The fate of a local badger sett was the focus of much of the opposition from objectors to the scheme.
In an interview last year, Kenny said he and his wife have lived in harmony with a badger family for 30 years “and we are not about to collude in their destruction now”.
In an additional 18-page inspector’s report, senior ecologist inspector Fiona Patterson concluded that the mitigation strategy proposed by the applicants for the closure of the existing badger sett and construction of an artificial badger sett is acceptable to ensure that significant impacts on badgers will not arise.
The Coimisiún Pleanála inspector in the case, Suzanne Kehely, recommended refusal on two separate grounds including that the proposed development would have a negative impact on the residential amenities of the properties to the immediate north and west of the site, by way of overbearing impact and overlooking.
However, An Coimisiún Pleanála didn’t uphold this ground, with a commission direction stating it was satisfied with the proposed height, scale, mass and design that the proposed development would not have a negative impact on the residential amenities of the properties in the vicinity and would not adversely impact on the residential amenity of those properties.
The Kennys have been engaged in a planning conflict with Bartra concerning the Yonder site since October 2018 when the developers lodged plans for apartments for the site.
An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission in 2019 for 18 apartments and six houses. That planning permission has now expired.