Council turns down plan for 50-house Tullamore development

A plan for the development of 50 houses on the Daingean Road in Tullamore has been refused by Offaly County Council.

The project, at Cluain Darach, which attracted a significant number of submissions from local residents living in the vicinity of the site, would have seen a mix of two, three and four bedroom semi-detached houses being built, along with 8 blocks of terraced houses.

The proposed development also included two car parking spaces per house, as well as visitor parking, landscaping, public lighting and all ancillary works, and was initially submitted to the local authority on May 21 last year in the name of James Doran.

Offaly County Council refused the application on three separate grounds.

The council said the development is located on land zoned 'open space/amenity/recreation' and would therefore materially contravene the Offaly County Development plan. It also ruled that the development would, contravene the county development plan, by providing greater growth for Tullamore than assigned to the town.

The council also said it considered "having regard to the proximity of the site to the Tullamore River and the risk of failure of the earthwork berms which protect the site" that the proposed development is in an area which is at risk of flooding.

Some 19 separate submissions were received by Offaly County Council in relation to the development with the bulk of them coming from residents living in the vicinity of the project, including those living in the Whitehall and Daingean Road area. The Daingean Road Residents Association also sent in a lengthy submission.

Among the issues raised in the submission were concerns in relation to privacy for existing householders; increased traffic volumes and the risk of flooding.

In its submission, the Whitehall/Daingean Road Residents Association noted the absence of provision for either a community centre, crèche or playground as part of the planning application for the 50 house development at Cluain Darach. It also questioned the ability of the public sewage facility to cope with the additional capacity. "We have experienced issues with sewage in our area over the past few years, and this has been reported to the Council and Irish Water," the submission stated.

The Residents Association also raised issues in relation to traffic flow, describing it as "a major issue" and further cited "the local flooding problem" in the area and said it was "of serious concern" to local residents.