Student flats by UCC approved

Plans to build apartments for nearly 200 students near University College Cork have been approved.

Although its own inspector recommended turning down the project, An Bord Pleanála upheld Cork City Council’s decision of last August to give planning permission. The development is to be built on a former service station site on Lancaster Quay, but one of the six storeys must be left out.

While the complex could help meet significant shortfalls in purpose-built student accommodation, it raised concerns on a number of issues for nearby residents.

They submitted most of the 11 appeals against the council’s decision on the application submitted last June by Ziggurat, UK-based student accommodation developers. The company is a major player in the sector in Britain, and already has Dublin facilities.

It rejected issues raised by local residents and guesthouse owners that the scheme would lead to unacceptable antisocial behaviour, saying that it has detailed operational management plans in all its student accommodation centres.

The appeals also cited concerns about traffic but the applicant firm said the volume of increased parking demands being suggested would not be needed because of the scheme’s location just more than 100 metres from the UCC campus. Management of the River Lee Hotel, located across a narrow river channel from the site, had also raised concerns about being overlooked and loss of light and privacy.

The height and scale of the proposed development prompted An Bord Pleanála’s inspector to recommend refusal of permission, saying it would be overdevelopment of a limited site and out of character with development in the area.

But the appeals board decided not to accept her recommendation, stating that the plans are appropriate to the location and will not affect the area’s visual or residential amenity.

The board has imposed a condition, similar to one previously proposed by the council, requiring the removal of a fifth floor set out in the original planning application for 30 apartments of between four and eight bedrooms. It is not certain how many bed spaces would be lost but Ziggurat appealed that original condition, claiming the reduced height should not be contemplated when student accommodation is in short supply.

The decision emerges as proposals to expand the number of student apartments in part of the Cork events centre development on the old Beamish brewery site face further delay. Cork City Council was due to decide this week on BAM Property Ltd’s application to increase the number of apartments in the northern side of the city centre development at South Main Street.

But, as reported in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, the council has sought clarification in relation to the company’s response to a previous request for further information on the plans. It is proposed to provide bed spaces for more than 470 students, increasing the number of apartments at the expense of retail and office elements of the 2011 parent planning permission.

The company had hoped to have work begin, with letting of the student accommodation in autumn 2018, but the delays may cast doubts over that possibility even if the plans are permitted.