Bord Pleanála refuses planning for ‘car-dependent’ housing scheme in Balbriggan

Planning permission was refused due to a lack of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission for a strategic housing development (SHD) scheme near Balbriggan with 127 residential units after a developer failed to allow for adequate pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. The board ruled that the development would leave residents "car-dependent" and "promote unsustainable transport modes”. The appeals board refused planning permission for the scheme – made up of 65 houses and 62 duplex units – after Fingal County Council recommended that planning permission be refused on five separate grounds.

Traffic hazard

The appeals board inspector Elaine Power, recommended refusal, agreeing with the council and the concerns raised by third parties that the proposal did not provide for safe and convenient road use and that future residents of the scheme would be car-dependent, setting an undesirable precedent for similar sites where connectivity is limited or non-existent.

Ms Power said that in the absence of adequate pedestrian and cycle infrastructure connecting the site, which is 4km northwest of Balbriggan to the town centre, and given the poor availability of public transport at the location, it was her recommendation that permission be refused as the proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard.

The developer failed to consider adequate pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. Image via Shutterstock.

Housing supply

In a separate SHD ruling, the board has granted planning permission to the Land Development Agency (LDA) for a 345-unit scheme for Hacketsown, Skerries, in north Dublin.

The LDA can now proceed with the construction of eight blocks consisting of 84 one-bed units, 104 two-bed units and 157 three-bed units in eight blocks ranging from two to four storeys in height.

The appeals board granted permission after pointing out that the scheme is of strategic and national importance given its potential to substantively contribute to the achievement of the Government’s national policy to increase housing supply.

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