PLANNING NOTES: Togher Road SuperValu goes for super-size

A busy southside supermarket in Cork City is proposed for expansion into a neighbourhood centre.

The Ryan’s SuperValu on Togher Road, near the Lough, would undergo a 1,224-square-metre ground-floor extension, with a 530-square-metre first-floor extension to comprise office, medical-related and professional-services uses. A 3,000-square-metre basement, to accommodate 86 parking spaces, is also proposed in the plans lodged with Cork City Council in June. The application, from Togher Supermarkets Ltd, also sets out details for changes to the site layout, including additional surface parking and revised access and public-road junction arrangements.

* An Bord Pleanala has overturned a council decision to refuse permission for a scheme of 270 new homes in Portmarnock, Co Dublin.

Shannon Homes (Dublin) Ltd had appealed the decision, in December, by Fingal County Council to turn down the application made in April, 2014. The final proposals, which were the subject of further information submitted to council planners last November, were for 270 three-, four- and five-bedroom houses at Drumnigh Road.

The council deemed that the plans, for a 30-acre site near the DART railway line, provided inadequate public or private open space, and an unsustainable mix of residential units.

However, on the recommendation of its inspector, the appeals board has granted permission, subject to conditions and based on further plans and particulars submitted by the applicants in January.

* Extensions and refurbishment at a West Cork hospital have been permitted for the Health Service Executive.

The decision of Cork County Council, last month, followed an application in April relating to Bantry General Hospital. The HSE sought permission for a 480-square-metre, first-floor extension to an existing ward block, to include eight single-bed facilities with en-suites, internal refurbishments to existing wards, and a smaller extension to incorporate a four-bed pre-op assessment ward.

* A former factory in West Cork could become a furniture outlet, if a recent planning application is successful.

Glentree Furniture Ltd has applied for permission for change of use to the premises at Brookpark, Dunmanway. It proposes to develop a retail warehouse for furniture sales and ancillary storage.

* Permission is being sought for the completion of housing works first applied for a decade ago, near Cobh, in east Cork.

The county council has received the application from O’Mahony Developments Ltd for a site at Kilgarvan Rural, Carrignafoy. It seeks to construct a part-residential development, to include completion of construction of 10 dwellings previously permitted under a 2005 application, and build 32 homes where 94 were previously allowed.