Peninsula ready to fight apartment development

Donabate Portrane Community Council has vowed to fight plans to build over 1,000 apartments in the village of Donabate.

An application has been made directly to An Bord Pleanála by developers Cannon Kirk to build 1,368 housing units at the Corballis East site in Donabate.

This site goes from the rear of Smyth's pub down to the ecologically sensitive Broadmeadow Estuary, according to the community council.

The Strategic Housing Development application to the planning board describes the application as one that consists of 353 houses and 1,015 apartments, three childcare facilities and associated site works.

A Strategic Housing Development application is a means of fast-tracking planning permission without the need to apply to the local authority and applies to developments over 100 units.

Donabate Portrane Community Council said: 'The plans for so many apartments and duplexes are totally inappropriate given the village setting.'

The community council said: 'Even 600 apartments, leaving aside the duplexes, is far too many for a village that continues to suffer from chronic infrastructural deficits.'

Laying out its case against the development, the community council said: 'There is no garda station, a congested rail service (before the pandemic struck), inadequate retail options, few community facilities and a bypass that was built at half the capacity of the planning permission granted for it.

'The application, if it succeeds, could mean an additional 3,000 people living in an area straining to cope with its existing population levels.'

At the start of the year Donabate Portrane Community Council had welcomed An Bord Pleanála's decision to refuse permission for works associated with the development of the same Corballis East site.

Aledo had been granted permission by Fingal County Council to construct roads and other services to enable the future construction of more than 1,000 houses on the site.

Donabate Portrane Community Council had questioned the granting of permission for the works, claiming the county council acted contrary to its powers and appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála.

Donabate Portrane Community Council argued that this proposed development would cause serious damage to the Broadmeadow Special Areas of Conservation and the protected bird species that reside there.

In overturning the planning permission granted by Fingal County Council and granting the appeal of Donabate Portrane Community Council, An Bord Pleanála held that it could not be satisfied that the construction of this proposed development would not adversely impact on the integrity of the protected Special Areas of Conservation.

An Bord Pleanála noted that there are significant numbers of wintering birds using the lands impacted.