COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE
Monday, April 15, 2019
QUESTION NO. 1
QUESTION: Councillor Emma Hendrick
To ask the Chief Executive that as Citywest and the Fortunestown area are expanding what community and civic facilities have so far been built since the Local Area Plan was enacted? What community and civic facilities have yet to be built what do they consist of and what is the expected time frame?
REPLY:
There have been several grants of planning permission in recent years within the area covered by the Fortunestown Local Area Plan, which incorporate provision for civic and community facilities. These are set out below. Where a commencement notice for construction has been received by SDCC, this has been stated.
- SHD3ABP-300555-18: This permission for a Strategic Housing Development comprising 524 residential units was granted by an Bord Pleanala in March 2018. The site is located south of Bianconi Avenue and east of Garter Lane. A commencement notice was received by SDCC in respect of this development on 2/1/19. Condition 2 of this permission requires the proposed development to be amended to omit two duplex units in order to provide for a creche and community space, subject to a separate planning application.
- SD18A/0420: Permission granted by SDCC in January 2019 for (among other things) amendments to the permitted residential development (Reg. Ref. SHD3ABP-300555-18) arising from Condition 2 (referred to above) and consisting of development of a crèche and community facility (271sq.m) with associated external play area and car parking in lieu of duplex units A-01 and A-02 within Block A and all associated amendments to the permitted site layout plan.
- SHD3ABP-302398-18: Permission granted by an Bord Pleanala to Cairn Homes in December 2018 for a Strategic Housing Development of approximately 450 units located in Cooldown Commons, Fortunestown, north west of Citywest Shopping Centre. The proposed development includes a creche and a residents’ communal room of 127 square metres. A current planning application (SD19A/0117) seeks to enlarge this communal room to 275sqm.
- SD16A/0255: Permission granted by SDCC for construction of two 2 storey primary school buildings at Cooldown Commons, Fortunestown Lane.
- SD16A/0210: Permission granted by SDCC in July 2016 for 111 residential units on a site at the junction of Citywest Road and Garter Avenue. (This was before the enactment of legislation providing for Strategic Housing Developments). Condition 1(b) requires that ‘apartment unit number 93 shall be omitted from the development and replaced by community floorspace’.
- SD16A/0078: Permission granted by SDCC in January 2017 for approx. 129 residential units, three own-door retail units/offices and a creche on a site at Cooldown Commons, Fortunestown Lane. This was also before the enactment of SHD legislation. Condition 3(a) requires that ‘a residential unit shall be converted to community floorspace’.
- SD15A/0132: Permission granted by SDCC for new school building comprising a two-storey primary school on Fortunestown Lane. A commencement notices was received by SDCC on 24/12/15. This school is now completed.
In addition to the above, retail and commercial/service facilities have also been permitted and built in the form of the Citywest shopping centre.
There remains land within the Fortunestown LAP area which does not benefit from planning permission and which has yet to be built out. Having regard to this, the time period of the LAP was extended by the Council in 2017 until June 2022.
It should be noted that SDCC cannot compel prospective applicants to submit planning applications – the fact that a Local Area Plan has been prepared signals that this area is ripe for development.
Additional factors, including the extension of the LAP time period to 2022, provision in legislation for the fast-tracking of planning applications via the Strategic Housing Development process and the current positive economic climate, mean that it may reasonably be expected that planning applications which may secure the delivery of the objectives for community infrastructure contained in the Local Area Plan, would be submitted in the near future.
It is also worth noting that planning permissions generally have a five year life span; therefore developers have a five year window within which to implement a given development and it may therefore be expected that construction may commence on some of the grants of permission listed above in the short term.