Broadcaster Pat Kenny, 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 Co Dublin.
Mr Kenny said that he is “delighted” that planning permission has been refused to what he described as “a huge block of concrete surrounded by 11 gardens” close to the Kenny home in Dalkey.
It follows An Coimiúsin Pleanála (ACP) refusing planning permission to Richard Barrett’s Bartra Property (Dublin) Ltd to construct the nursing home at Yonder, Ulverton Road and Harbour Road, Dalkey, on lands that border the Kenny family home.
Mr Kenny said following receipt of the ACP refusal to the proposal in the post: “I was delighted that the new Coimiúsin Pleanala has seen the light of day.”
He said: “The folly of the application from the beginning should have been apparent to everyone.”
Mr Kenny said: “Everyone in the area looked at the proposal as if it was lunacy.”
Mr Kenny said that the site at Yonder, Ulverton Rd and Harbour Rd, Dalkey for the proposed nursing home “is an old quarry and what they were proposing was putting in a huge lump of construction beside people’s back gardens”.
Marking the end of a marathon nursing home planning battle dating back to January 2021 when plans were first lodged, ACP has refused planning permission to Bartra 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 stated that 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.
As a result, ACP 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.
However, this decision was quashed and the case was remitted back to An Bord Pleanála after the Kennys and their neighbours successfully brought a High Court challenge against the ABP 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, Mr Kenny said that himself and his wife Kathy have lived in harmony with a badger family for 30 years “and we are not about to collude in their destruction now”.
However, 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.
ACP 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, ACP did not uphold this ground with a commission direction stating that 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 commission made this finding having regard to the layout and topography of the site, the degree of separation of the proposed structure from adjacent dwellings, and the design approach adopted by the applicant.
Mr Kenny praised the 75 page report of ACP inspector, Suzanne Kehely into the proposal as “a very impressive piece of work” adding that “our concern and every objector’s and observer’s concern was about safety and the constraints of the lane.”
The veteran Newstalk broadcaster said that the inspector “saw what we have been saying from the very, very beginning that this lane was impossible to serve the nursing home”.
The Kennys have been engaged in a planning battle with Bartra concerning the Yonder site since October 2018 when the developers lodged plans for an apartment scheme for the site.
An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission in 2019 for 18 apartments and six houses despite the opposition of the Kennys and neighbours. However, that planning permission has now expired.
Mr Kenny said that he is open to the construction of a “tasteful” residential scheme for the Yonder site.
He said: “If the scale of the proposal is modest and sequenced it can be built. We have always said we would love some sort of scheme to be built on the lands that would be sympathetic to the area.”
The broadcaster said: “It is crying out for a more appropriate housing development instead of building huge blocks.”
He said that the planning saga has been ‘stressful’ periodically.
Asked if he and his neighbours are planning to celebrate the ACP decision, Mr Kenny said: “There will be a moment.”
Reporting by Gordon Deegan