Council plan to bulldoze houses halted by ABP
The Glendale estate, Sheillagh Road, Tullow Photo: michaelorourkephotography.ie
COMMON sense has prevailed following a decision by An Bord Pleanála this week to granted planning permission for 70 houses at a ghost estate in Tullow – outright rejecting a previous decision by Carlow County Council to demolish 14 of those houses.
An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission to Nimbus Property Company Ltd to construct 70 dwellings at Glendale, Shillelagh Road, Tullow, an estate of 63 nearly-completed houses that has lain idle for over a decade despite the crippling housing crisis.
The long-running saga began back in 2008, when the recession hit and construction at Glendale was abandoned, despite the existence of 63 houses on the site, which were almost completed. In fact, many of the homes were fitted with doors, windows and completed roofs and were within two to three months' work of becoming completed homes.
Following the economic crash, the entire estate was put on the market and eventually sold for €650,000 to Nimbus in 2013.
However, when the company sought to complete Glendale and fulfil the directions of its original planning, its planning application was refused by Carlow County Council.
The council rejected the application, deeming it contrary to the most recent County Development Plan (CDP), even though that plan was devised years after construction on Glendale began.
The council decision also called for 14 houses to be demolished because they didn’t meet the standards under the current CDP. Under the plan, homes should have 55sq metres of open space; however, the 14 homes at the centre of this saga only have 45sq metres.
This decision was subsequently appealed to An Bord Pleanála, which this week rejected the council’s findings and granted permission for the construction of 53 two-bed units, 16 three-bed units and one four-bed unit.
In its decision, An Bord Pleanála ruled that it “did not concur with the planning authority that the development will materially contravene the provisions of the Carlow County Development Plan as the existing structures on site were subject of a previous planning permission on this site”.
The board’s decision has been largely welcomed this week, particularly given the huge lack of private homes for sale in the general Tullow area.
“This is very good news for Tullow, with 70 houses now coming on stream and it also tidies up a derelict site on the edge of the town. It’s a common-sense approach by An Bord Pleanála,” cllr Will Paton told .
“While I accept that the council felt that they had to consider a 2022 planning application from Nimbus Property Company Limited under the 2022-2028 County Development Plan provisions, I feel that the council took a very narrow view of a development with a unique planning history,” he added.
“To attempt to impose the provisions of the current CDP on an almost-complete housing development which had full planning permission from 2003 and 2008 was short-sighted.
“I am glad that An Bord Pleanála agrees with my point of view and states that the development as proposed in May 2023 (with amendments submitted to An Bord Pleanála) will not materially contravene the provisions of the Carlow County Development Plan as the existing structures on site were subject of a previous planning permission on this site.
"A retrograde application of 2022-2028 development plan provisions on this development would have been, in my opinion, unfair and unreasonable,” said cllr Paton.
