Board gives all-clear for 100 properties on ex-Nemo site

THE way has been cleared by An Bord Pleanála for more than 100 houses and apartments on a prime Douglas Road site in Cork city.

They are to be built on lands vacated by Nemo Rangers GAA club, and on a former FCA site alongside, sold by the Department of Defence.

The decision allows developers Fleming Construction to build 75 houses and 28 apartments on the lands, just east of St Finbar’s Hospital, and accessed off the main Douglas Road.

The plans, the latest of several for the Nemo site by Flemings, had been objected to by seven appellants, including local residents and another developer, the Kenny Group, which is currently building apartments on the South Douglas Road, immediately to the south of the former playing pitches.

Estate agent Savills last night said Flemings were extremely pleased with the appeals outcome, and could start construction work there by the end of 2009.

It appears the end of a long saga — bar perhaps the upset of a since-stagnant property market — for the developers, who bought the land back in 2002 in an initial deal likely to have been worth close to e8 million. They provided a replacement clubhouse for Nemo Rangers a mile away, on alternative playing pitches, in 2005.

Fleming’s first application for 80 houses on the eight-acre Nemo Rangers’ lands was rejected by An Bord Pleanála in 2007, on access grounds: They had proposed access opposite the Bellair Estate, by demolishing two terraced houses which the board said were of architectural merit.

Subsequently, Flemings bought the key-position FCA site for a further e2.5m, and their subsequent planning application was for 78 houses, mostly terraced and semis, and 28 apartments plus a creche. Bord Pleanála’s decision this week has removed just three of the planned 78 houses.

It stipulates that a new traffic signal and pedestrian crossing be installed on the main Douglas Road by the site/FCA hall entry point, between two nearby existing sets of lights.

The board inspector’s decision noted: “The proposed development would provide a relatively high density of residential development on an inner suburban site. It would therefore further the objectives of the development plan and the guidelines on sustainable urban development. It would not give rise to a traffic hazard or traffic congestion. It would not injure the amenities of adjoining property or the character of the area and it would provide an adequate level of amenity for its occupants. The proposed development would therefore be in keeping with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

“Prohibiting development on the site would displace demand for residential development to more peripheral areas, which would require the provision of new services and give rise to a greater demand for travel by private car and hence more congestion. This would represent a less sustainable and less economic form of development.”