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An Bord Pleanála has refused Johnny Ronan planning permission for his planned 40-plus storey tower scheme for Dublin’s docklands.
The appeals board has refused Mr Ronan’s 1,005 unit apartment Waterfront South Central scheme after concluding that it was precluded from granting permission after a High Court ruling last November.
The board found that as a result of the High Court ruling by Mr Justice Richard Humphreys, it does not have jurisdiction to materially contravene the North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock Planning Scheme under Strategic Housing Development legislative provisions.
Scheme
Mr Ronan’s scheme is planned for a site within the North Lotts scheme, which imposes strict height limits. The 44 and 45 storey heights proposed were well in excess of what is allowed in the area.
The High Court decision concerned a case between Dublin City Council and the board, and another Johnny Ronan company, Spencer Place Development Company.
The board said that it agreed with its senior planning inspector, Rónán O’Connor, stating that an oral hearing was required to address outstanding issues in the Johnny Ronan Waterfront South Central proposal.
In its objection, Dublin City Council planners told An Bord Pleanala that the tower scheme should be refused on a number of grounds.
As part of a 63-page planning report lodged with An Bord Pleanala, the council’s planners said Mr Ronan’s scheme represents overdevelopment and is “an inadequate design response to this sensitive site, would be of insufficient architectural quality, and if permitted would result in a poor placemaking outcome”.
The council’s planners told An Bord Pleanala that the scheme, if permitted, “would negatively impact the receiving environment, in terms of daylight, sunlight and wind, and resulting in a poor standard of residential amenity for future residents”.
The Council has also recommended refusal as the proposed development would not be consistent with the North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock SDZ planning scheme, which sets out specific height limits for the application site.
In its objection to the scheme, An Taisce’s Kevin Duff told the appeals board that the impulse to construct two 40-plus storey towers “simply because Dublin does not have such buildings or because it does not look ‘international’ without them is ludicrous and is unsupportable environmentally”.
Housing
Mr Duff said that the type of housing proposed in the scheme “is rarely affordable and most likely to end up as corporate letting with little or no contribution to the housing supply or the housing crisis”.
However, the Docklands Business Forum said that labelling Mr Ronan as a ‘Manhattan style project’ is extraordinarily ill informed.
In the forum’s submission, CEO Alan Robinson said that the scheme would be only half the height of the ‘Shard’, London’s tallest building and would not even make the list of London’s top ten buildings.
Mr Robinson told the appeals board that Mr Ronan’s tower scheme was “ modest in height” and should be given the green light.
Last month a spokeswoman for Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) said: “Our ambition for Waterfront – South Central– is to create a landmark new development for Dublin that sets the standard for responsible and integrated development as the greenest city quarter in Ireland.