Planners approve more than 50 new homes for Cobh

Rockspring Properties initially applied for planning permission in June 2022 for some 63 homes, but this number has been revised down

The new homes will be developed at Cooline in Cobh, Co Cork. Stock Picture: Denis Minihane.

Plans for 56 new homes in Cobh have been green-lit by Cork County Council, almost a year on from the initial planning application.

Rockspring Properties had initially lodged its application with the council on June 27, 2022 for the mix of two-bed, three-bed, and four-bed homes for a location at Cooline, Ballyvoloon in Cobh. The original plan was for 63 homes in total along with landscaping, surface car parking, and site services but that has since been revised down.

A decision was originally due last August but, on two occasions, planners from Cork County Council recommended deferring a decision pending further information and amendment.

In the original application, developers said that the scheme would use “good design principles, referencing local and national design guidelines, to create a considerate, resolved and viable place”.

They added that the houses proposed “are of modern form and expression informed by a local aesthetic linked to the traditional architecture of Cork”.

An agreement in principle was reached for the transfer of 13 of the homes to the council upon completion under Part V obligations for social housing. The initial estimated total cost to build these units was estimated at around €4.7m, in the initial planning documentation.

A number of objections were lodged against the plans, as well as follow-up submissions from locals after the developer provided further information to the council.

One group of locals wrote that the level of detail provided in the application was “grossly inadequate” with another group highlighting “significant safety concerns about the suitability of existing entrance and estate roads for the increased traffic”.

A report from a senior planner referenced concerns about the loss of privacy on northern and eastern boundaries of the development, increased footfall through the nearby Ard Aoibhinn estate with “associated noise pollution, littering, and anti-social behaviour”, and aspects such as wastewater and light pollution.

Following this senior planner’s final report, a decision was issued last week by Cork County Council to grant permission for the development, subject to 41 conditions.

In the conditions set out by the council in approving the plans, it said permission was granted for 56 dwellings only with a portion of the site reserved for use as a creche/childcare facility.

No more than 20 homes shall be sold or occupied until such time as the creche is constructed, the council said.

Furthermore, it added that the land owners should agree that all the units will be occupied firstly by “individual purchasers, I.e. those not being a corporate entity”.

Following the decision on 12 June, there are four weeks in which the decision can be appealed to An Bord Pleanála before being rubber-stamped.