€60m Limerick development shot down by planners
The proposed development at Parkway, Limerick.
Plans for a €60m mixed-used office, hotel and residential development, including a landmark 14-storey apartment block in Limerick City have been rejected by An Bord Pleanála on grounds of its substandard accommodation and its failure to be consistent with the zoning of the majority of the site.
About 48% of the development was earmarked for residential use in a site zoned primarily for enterprise and employment, with the office blocks only being developed in the final phase of a 10-year construction project.
The board upheld an appeal by Environmental Trust Ireland against the decision of Limerick City and County Council to grant planning permission for the major project, which included four office blocks, a 152-bed hotel and 245 apartments and duplexes across a number of blocks ranging from three to 14 storeys in height near the Parkway Retail Park, about 2.5km from the city centre.
The development, which is on a 7.9 hectare site at Singland on Dublin Road, Limerick, also provided for a new 1.12-hectare public park and playground as well as two restaurants with drive-through facilities, a petrol filling station and community building containing a creche and multi-use games facility.
The developer, Novelty ICAV, had estimated the development would have provided office space for up to 1,000 workers.
The location is the site of a partially built shopping centre which was abandoned in 2009 and largely demolished in 2020. It had been the proposed site of Limerick’s first Marks & Spencer stores as well as an ice rink.
In its ruling, An Bord Pleanála said the overall mix and ratio of uses proposed in the development was not consistent with the overall zoning objective of the majority of the site, which was for the “creation and protection of enterprise and to facilitate opportunities for employment creation”.
For that reason, the board said the project would be contrary to proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
It also refused the application because of the location of the 14-storey apartment block alongside the Dublin Road and the car-dominated layout of the development, which it claimed would seriously injure the amenities of future residents and its failure to provide a high-quality urban design that facilitated “an attractive pedestrian and green transport environment”.
The board also said the need to seal some windows and balconies in the apartment block to attain an acceptable internal noise environment because of traffic noise represented a substandard form of accommodation.
While the board noted an inspector had recommended refusal on a number of other grounds relating to the requirement for planning permission for demolition works as well as the inadequacy of environmental reports, it said it did not need to pursue such matters given the substantive reasons for the rejection of Novelty ICAV’s application.
A planning inspector with An Bord Pleanála said the nature and mix of the proposed development represented “a significantly missed opportunity to provide the type of development envisaged in the strategic vision for Limerick”.
The inspector also claimed the development provided poor-quality communal space for residents.
Environmental Trust Ireland had raised concerns there had been a lack of meaningful public participation about environmental aspects of the project as well as impact on wildlife in the area.
The group also complained the 14-storey tower would become an “eyesore”, while residents would be subject to major noise and traffic pollution.
Although moot, given the decision to refuse planning permission, the inspector had recommended that Novelty ICAV should be successful in its separate appeal against a condition imposed by the council requiring the company to make a development contribution of over €1.4m to the local authority.
The developer said almost €2.6m had already been paid to the council in relation to the same site and seeking a further contribution was unreasonable and would “stifle economic development in the city”.
The inspector said, if approved, a reasonable contribution for the development would have been €382,560 — a reduction of more than €1.1m.
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