On Wednesday 12 July 2017 a Site Notice appeared in Ratoath stating:
“Owr Construction Limited intends to apply for permission for development on this 0.1132 Ha site at the corner of Seagrave Hall and Fairyhouse Road, Co. Meath. … The proposed development is for: “for a three storey residential development comprising a terrace of 4 No. 4 bed dwellings”
Meath County Council received the Planning Application (RA170815) the previous day. The proposed high density, three-storey, sixteen-bedroom building is completely inappropriate for this location. Its excessive size and height, limited open spaces and inadequate car parking means that there will be a very negative impact on existing residents in the area. For example, in terms of:
- Greatly reduced privacy for neighboring properties over shadowed by the building
- The hazardous location of the narrow entrance to the small and inadequate car park
- Risks associated with on-street/on-pavement parking by residents and visitors near a busy main road
- The removal of mature trees at the boundary of the site
- A lack of drainage resulting in surface water run-off to nearby properties on lower ground
- The lack of green space resulting in the use of nearby amenities by non-residents
It would also set a precedence for the construction of high density developments of an economy build quality/finish in an established residential area – superseding the far more demanding planning standards that have previously been applied to this part of Fairyhouse Road.
In August 2017 the Meath County Council Planning Department asked for additional information in regards to the application, and in particular requested that it be reduced from a three-storey to a two-storey building. They finally received a response from Owr on 2 May 2018:
- The revised plans
- More photos of the plans
- The landscaping proposal
- Additional information (revised proposal)
- The original full proposal
Astonishingly the revised proposal is still for a three storey building, although this is now disingenuously referred to as a “two storey house type … with the roof space also developed”. The developers also argue that they will have to pay a vacant site levy if they do not build this on this site and therefore need the revised application to go through. This claim very conveniently forgets that they have had planning permission to build two 4-bedroom houses on the site since 8 June 2009!
Revised site notices were erected on Friday 18 May, indicating that Meath CC will need to receive comments by 1 June.
The Meath County Council planning website currently indicates that a planning decision will be made on 29 May 2018, but this will presumably slip by several weeks.
Spam: Because of numerous spam posts and continuous hacking attempts I have reluctantly turned on a setting which means that I have to approve a post or comment before it appears online.