The south Dublin areas of Cornelscourt and Glenageary could soon see a building boom as permission for the construction of 837 residential units has been filed with An Bord Pleanala.
Cosgrave Developments has applied for the build of 368 apartments on the Cualanor development on the Upper Glenageary Road while Cornel Living has applied for 469 homes on a vacant site in Cornelscourt.
The Cornelscourt site currently contains a small car park but is mostly taken up by grassland.
The land was added to the vacant site register by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in June 2018 and was valued at €12m.
According to TheJournal.ie, the site was owned by the now defunct Fellhurst which once had plans to construct a 5,000sqm car park on the land before dissolving.
It is believed the current car park is used by staff and shoppers at the nearby Dunness Stores.
Properties added to the vacant site register can incur charges up to 7% of it’s value, meaning the owners could have faced a levy of €840,000 this year.
A decision on Cornel Living’s application to An Bord Pleanala is expected to be made in August.
The Cosgrave Developments project in the Cualanor estate, lying between Sallynoggin and Dun Laoghaire is filed with ABP to revise a previously granted permission for two apartments blocks consisting of 308 total homes.
It is proposed to increase the number of apartments to 368.
The revised proposals also incorporate two individually basements, one below each block – previously permitted as a single combined basement.
A total of 456 car parking spaces are also included as part of the plan with 81 above-ground spaces and 375 basement spaces.
Commenting on the application, newly elected Fine Gael Councillor for Dún Laoghaire, Lorraine Hall, who lives in Cualanor, said: “This application brings home the crux of the dilemma which is whether we are prepared to accept greater density in our own backyard to help address the housing shortage.
“Overall, I’m minded to think that this is a good thing given the need to build more housing. But I’m concerned that there’s not enough parking for residents. I’ve registered this concern with the Council,” she said.
However, People Before Profit councillor, Melisa Halpin says the proposal to increase the number of apartments comes from a place of greed by the developers.
“The planned new development at Cualanor is yet another example of developers seeking to squeeze more profits out of every square foot of land they own – furthermore there will be not one more home dedicated to social housing,” she said.
