Council's approval of 42-unit development near Letterkenny upheld

An Comisíun Pleanála has upheld Donegal County Council’s decision to approve planning permission for a 42-unit housing development in Lisnennan, to the north of Letterkenny, after rejecting an appeal by nearby residents.

Donegal County Council had granted the proposal 10 years to complete the project in March, which comprises two two-bedroom semi-detached houses, four three-bedroom semi-detached houses, 26 four-bedroom semi-detached houses, eight two-bedroom terraced houses, two three-bedroom terraced houses, and the planning application also includes connection to all existing services already on site, including foul water drainage, storm water drainage, watermains, footpaths, roadways, and all associated site works.

Letterkenny Rosemount Homes Ltd was the listed applicant for the proposal, with the site accessed by Lios Na Greine, off Lisnennan Court, and it is recorded as Lios Na Greine residents, along with another, who are third-party appellants to the granted application.

Within the pre-approved planning application, Conall Newman of Harley Newman Planning Consultants wrote: “Within a time of national housing crisis, the proposed residential scheme would provide much-needed housing for the principal urban settlement in the county/region and would accord with national, regional and local policy in this regard.”

However, an appeal, which was submitted to An Coimisíun Pleanála in April, listed reasons for objections, including “Incompatibility with Established Character and Excessive Density,” “Traffic Safety and Substandard Road Conditions,” “Unsustainable Location and Car Dependency,” “Prematurity Due to Inadequate Water and Drainage Infrastructure,” “Inappropriate Development of Greenfield Land,” and “Impact on Residential Amenity.”

However, a report which summarised the applicant’s response to the appeal stated they were “seeking to complete to the highest and latest standards the previously permitted and commenced (ghost estate) housing scheme,” and that the “majority of the remainder of the original site must now be completed upon what is a zoned, fully serviced, brownfield site set within an existing, recently developed suburban zone on the outskirts of the town.”

It was also stated that the density was “entirely acceptable and therefore the proposal, which has no overlooking/overshadowing or any other negative implications for surrounding properties, represents the optimum residential scheme for this brownfield site,” and that “any additional traffic associated with this moderate number of houses is well within normal acceptable limits for such a small-scale estate in this suburban zone.”

The Planning Authority response to the first-party appeal commented that “the contents of the third-party appeal have been noted, and that the matters raised by the appellants have been previously addressed in the planning reports.”

An Coimisíun Pleanála inspector, Ronan Murphy, recommended that Donegal County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the proposals should be upheld with 16 conditions, stating: “The proposed development would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of the area or property in the vicinity and would be acceptable in terms of the protection of existing residential amenity, traffic and pedestrian safety and flooding.

“The proposed development would, therefore, be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”

An order was signed by Liam McGree, the Planning Commissioner of An Comisíun Pleanála, on August 24, granting permission for the proposed development.