Citywest owners in row over plans to stage music concerts

The owners of Citywest Hotel are to appeal a decision which blocked their plans to stage public concerts at the venue’s large convention centre.

The owners of Citywest Hotel are to appeal a decision which blocked their plans to stage public concerts at the venue’s large convention centre.

Cape Wrath Hotel’s application to host music concerts at the Citywest complex in Saggart, Co Dublin, was recently refused planning permission by South Dublin County Council.

Citywest’s owners claim they have lined up an experienced, international concert promoter to oversee concerts at the 4,160-capacity venue as part of its plans to expand the use of the conference centre.

A previous application to expand the facility to accommodate up to 6,000 patrons for public concerts was refused by An Bord Pleanála in January 2017 on grounds it would create serious traffic congestion and late-night noise.

However, Cape Wrath said stringent noise controls would be put in place for its latest proposal to ensure there would be no adverse impact from staging concerts on residents living in the area.

The company stressed that it was not seeking to increase either the capacity of the convention centre or car parking spaces with its latest plans.

Cape Wrath said it had engaged with the Luas operator, Transdev, about providing trams to cater for demand generated by concerts at Citywest.

It claimed it had also addressed a number of planning compliance issues associated with past developments on the site before it acquired the Citywest complex.

Cape Wrath, which is a vehicle for the Dublin-based private equity fund, Tetrarch Capital, paid receivers around €29m for the Citywest hotel and golf complex in 2014 after its original owner and developer, the late Jim Mansfield Snr, lost control of the facility in 2010 after he accumulated estimated debts of around €300m.

Planners with South Dublin County Council refused to sanction the use of the conference centre for concerts on grounds that Citywest’s owners had failed to demonstrate that the local road network would not be overwhelmed by traffic generated by concert-goers with related concerns about the operation and safety of the nearby N7 national route.

They also expressed doubt that the proposed 830 car park spaces reserved for concert-goers would be adequate.

Council planners pointed out that 94% of visitors currently travel to the venue by car and that Cape Wrath’s projections that the figure would reduce to 50% for concerts was “aspirational”.

Cape Wrath subsequently revised its figures to estimate that 84% of concert patrons would travel by car but that 28% would stay overnight in the hotel.

The council also expressed concern that pedestrian routes between Citywest and the Luas station were “substandard” and would pose a traffic hazard when large numbers would attend concerts.

Saggart Village Residents Association, which has opposed Citywest’s plans, said the staging of concerts would have a negative impact on the area in terms of traffic congestion, noise and anti-social behaviour.

A ruling on the case by An Bord Pleanála is due by the end of May.

Cape Wrath signed a €21m deal with the HSE last year to make the 764-bedroom hotel available as an “isolation hub” during the Covid-19 pandemic. The deal which provided for Citywest to cater for up to 1,700 patients has now been extended up to June 2021.

Last month, An Bord Pleanála granted the company planning permission for a development of 224 apartments at Garter’s Lane in Saggart, while it is also currently seeking planning permission for 275 mixed housing units on a site at Mill Road in Saggart.