“This highlights the undemocratic process that planning actually is” say residents
Only 17 car parking spaces for 57 apartments
Seldom has a local community been so united in their opposition to a proposed development but, after almost three years of campaigning and incurring considerable expense, the residents of Trinity Gardens have been informed that local development company Urban Life has been given the go-ahead to construct what they see as a totally inappropriate high rise development overlooking their single storey homes.
The Trinity Gardens Resident Association received the official notification on May 30th that An Bord Pleanala has given the go ahead for the Urban Life development of the 7 storey, 57 apartment structure in the Swan Yard off George’s Street, directly adjacent to the historic, settled single storey estate, one of the first housing schemes to be built in Drogheda in the 1930’s.
Chairperson of the Residents Association, Teresa McKenna, expressed the frustration and dismay felt by all residents in Trinity Gardens and adjoining areas that An Bord Pleanala effectively rubber stamped the original decision taken in Dundalk by Louth County Council with no further significant conditions being applied to the controversial development.
Teresa made it very clear that the residents in the area are not against development, and were always expecting that the site would be developed at some stage, and indeed would welcome appropriate development at the site, but it appears that the housing crisis is being cynically exploited by developers to maximise profits at the expense the built heritage of the town, with no regard being given to the existing environment.
“In our innocence, after the first planning application (subsequently withdrawn by Urbanlife prior to the decision date) we felt that perhaps the developer might engage in some discussions with the local residents, some of whom would be overlooked and overshadowed by the seven storey construction, with a view to taking our opinions into consideration and perhaps toning down the scale of the project.
“However, the actual opposite happened where, without any consultation with the people of the area, they came back with a proposal for a larger scale development. It is our opinion that all of this, backed up by the fact that applicants are granted pre planning meetings with the council only serves in our eyes to undermine the integrity of the planning process due to the secret nature of all discussions.”
She added, “There is huge disappointment being felt by all residents that the integrity of the wall at the entrance to the estate, added to the Record of Protected Structures (ref DB:402) has been effectively given no regard by either Louth County Council or An Bord Pleanala, both of whom sanctioned the demolition of the protected structure, despite the unanimous and historic decision by all elected members of Louth County Council to ‘ensure that their integrity was protected’.”
“For us” she said, “this highlights the undemocratic process that planning actually is, when despite observations from many, many interested parties making very relevant and points regarding the development, and democratically elected members voting in unison to protect the integrity of the built environment, officials in two arms of the state can effectively override the wishes of the majority for the gain of the very few.”
“In the opinion of the local residents the issue of parking has not been adequately looked at by the council or An Bord Pleanála, with a measly 17 parking spaces being provided to cater for 57 apartments.
“This boils down to the fact that the directive from the council to architects and engineers is based on the fallacy that car parking spaces are not required because everyone now, suddenly has begun cycling and using public transport, even though the infrastructure to support both modes of transport has not been provided by either local of central government.
“There will undoubtedly be far more than 17 cars required to serve the expected population of the building which we estimate at 171 people, so we are expecting traffic and parking mayhem when the building is operational.”
Ms McKenna concluded by saying that the residents are “absolutely aware of the serious nature of the housing crisis and that accommodation is badly needed, but cannot understand that despite the rapid expansion of the northern environs of the town there seem to be no plans for high rise and high density developments there.
however there is ample space to provide the ancillary facilities that, even according to Louth County Council’s planning department decisions, such developments require, and the same council seem to be doing very little to address the huge number of vacant properties in the town, some of them council owned.
Asked about where the residents go from here, Teresa told Drogheda Life that they are “considering all their options”.
