I have submitted observations to An Bord Pleanála on the proposed wind turbine array, focussing on the routing of the onshore cable. Specifically, the observations point out that alternative routes along the motorway or offshore down the coast need to be fully considered.
I am proposing an amendment to the Fingal Development Plan so that planning conditions will be imposed to require the sale of new apartments. I’ve also written to the Minister for Housing Planning and Local Government as similar provisions are in current guidelines as regards stand-alone and semi-detached houses. The text of the letter and proposed amendment:
Continue readingFinally, Fingal’s planning enforcement section have issued a warning letter in relation to non-compliance with the conditions of planning permission in Baldoyle. I have put the exchange of emails relevant to this letter below.
Continue readingThere’s a lot of concern at the development of apartments which, like those at Santa Sabina, will only be rented and won’t be on sale. This is in spite of a clear demand to buy an apartment in their local area from residents who would like to move out of a larger house.
I have submitted the following motion to initiate the process for an amendment to the County Development Plan, which, if I’m re-elected, will be taken at our July meeting:
Continue readingI have made an observation on the additional information received for application F22A/0372, subsequent to my previous observation. The main points are:
The Green councillors on Fingal County Council have a made a submission to the consultation on Sustainable and Compact Settlements Guidelines run by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
Our submission focusses on car parking issues, pointing to good policies adopted in the Fingal Development Plan 2023-2029.
Two aspects of the Fingal Plan are worth copying. First we advocate that minimum parking standards should be abolished from the planning system. The Fingal Plan does this for areas near public transport (which are effectively the entire developed area of Fingal.)
This is not abolishing parking entirely, it is that the planners will no longer require developers to provide more car parking than they want to, i.e. than they think the market is looking for. Our recommendations as regards car parking are informed by the work of planners like Donald Shoup and campaigns such as the Parking Reform Network. We are very conscious that minimum parking requirements have two significant negative effects. Minimum parking requirements reduce housing affordability, and it has been found again and again that removing the parking requirements enables the building of more housing. The cost minimum parking requirements imposes on housing becomes a subsidy which builds in an incentive to car use, contrary to our climate, health and quality of life goals for transport.
Secondly, we recommend that urban areas be designed primarily for walking, cycling and public transport, and that car parking be clustered rather than spread through out residential or mixed use areas as is often the case. We point to the provision of the Fingal plan providing for car-free neighbourhoods as a good example to be followed nationally. These recommendations are informed by positive experiences in pedestrianising existing areas and by the development of new car-free neighbourhoods in cities and towns across Europe and the world.
I have submitted an observation on the appeal by Tetrarch against conditions imposed by Fingal County Council as follows:
Two Strategic Housing Development applications have been made to An Bord Pleanála (Clongriffin SHD 1 and Clongriffin SHD 2). They say they will be accompanied by an application to Dublin City Council for a more mixed use development. The applications represent a completely unacceptable abandonment of the original plan for a high-density mixed use development, remaining high density but being almost entirely residential. The Howth/ Malahide Area Cttee. today agreed to my proposal to make the following submission to these applications:
1. The applications for almost exclusively residential development are contrary to the long-established goal of a mixed-use development at Clongriffin with significant employment uses. We strongly support the original plan of a mixed-use quarter.
2. The very low levels of community facilities proposed are not in keeping with the development of a sustainable community and the needs of current and future residents.
3. The reservation of a school site for Clongriffin should be respected.
4. The proposed towers should not be included due to their negative impact on views from and across the Baldoyle – Portmarnock Green Belt and public parkland protected in the Fingal County Development Plan.
The submission from Clongriffin Community Association goes into considerable detail on these applications, demonstrating how they go directly against the original vision for the area.
Update: the permissions were granted contravening the City Development Plan and Local Area Plan despite the submissions received.
A South Fingal Transport Study has been carried out for the Council. (This is in fulfilment of an objective in the County Development Plan which specified the Study would include public consultation; unfortunately the public consultation hasn’t happened.)
The Study contains strong recommendations about prioritising walking, cycling and public transport in the area, and will be discussed at a Planning and Strategic Infrastructure Policy Committee meeting on Monday 28th.