Retention application granted

A planning application for retention of a controversial development in Kilcullen has been granted to the developer concerned by Kildare County Council.



James Browne had applied for retention of the development beside The Hideout pub, subsequent to the serving of an Enforcement Order by the Council because of a number of significant variations from the original planning permission.

The retention was granted following a submission from the developer which addressed a number of points made in an objection by Kilcullen Community Development.

In regard to a key variation from the original permission, a higher roof ridge line, Fitzgibbon McGinley Architects produced photographs to show that there are already a number of such variations along the streetscape of Kilcullen. They claimed that the building represented a 'more coherent' addition to the existing streetscape than many of the buildings along the length of the street, and that it had 'no negative impact' on the existing streetscape.

Responding to the objection that the development as carried out had a negative impact on the adjoining Hideout building, the architects showed photographs from a number of points of view and suggested that Conservation and Visual impacts were 'neutral'.

On the matter of ridge heights, eaves and alignment of windows and cills, the architects submitted that there is 'no uniformity' of these elements in the existing streetscape, the present appearance of which is the result of 'piecemeal development' along its length. The report suggests that this variation is 'very much what forms part of the character' of the streetscape.

A letter from the developer to the Council referred to issues relating to sliding glass doors and raised parapet walls on a 'deck' at the rear, overlooking the vent pipes from the tanks of the nearby petrol filling station. In the original permission, fixed glazed units would have made it impossible for occupants to access this deck. Mr Browne stated that the sliding doors were provided 'to amalgamate the previously proposed functional elements and provision of day-light and ventilation'. The parapet walls were raised after a 'significant personnel protection hazard' was identified during construction.

In relation to the petrol station vent pipes, an accompanying report from Fergal FitzPatrick Architectural submitted that they were sufficiently offset from the boundary of the development and are 'in excess of the minimum requirements' for such installations.

In a Planning Report dated 12/11/2009, Executive Planner Alan Cunniffe recommended refusal of the application for retention. On the 13/01/10, Mr Cunniffe changed his recommendation, on the grounds that the developer had 'successfully argued' that the development as constructed had been amended in order to comply with a number of building control regulations and best practice in terms of Health & Safety. He also referred to the reports which showed a number of examples of developments in Kilcullen which 'do not exhibit symmetrical alignment.

He also said the the original development was 'poorly designed', which led to a number of 'mandatory amendments'.

The developer is required to pay Kildare County Council €30,900 in levies.

The developer and the objector were notified of granting of retention permission on 21 January 2010. Any appeal to An Bord Pleanala must be made withing four weeks of that date.

Brian Byrne.