Developer to lodge new plans for nursing home on site beside Pat Kenny’s home 

A developer is to lodge fresh plans for a nursing home on a site beside the Dalkey home of broadcaster Pat Kenny.

The decision to lodge the new plan in the coming weeks follows a move by Richard Barrett's Bartra Capital to withdraw its original application for its proposed five-storey 104-bedroom nursing home for Yonder, Ulverton Rd in Dalkey.

Last month, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council refused planning permission for the original nursing home scheme after Mr Kenny and his wife Kathy, along with objectors from over 30 other Dalkey households, voiced their opposition against the scheme.

Bartra Capital appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála. However, it has now emerged that Bartra withdrew the application and appeal from the appeals board only seven days after lodging the appeal.

Confirming the move today, Strategic Planning Director for Bartra, Hazel Jones stated: “We have formally withdrawn the planning application for the proposed nursing home from An Bord Pleanála. We intend to re-lodge the application with the local authority in the coming weeks.”

On the Bartra decision to withdraw the planning application, Mr Kenny said: “I think that this is an acceptance of the reality of the site, which we have always said is challenging.”

One of the main reasons given by the Council for refusing planning permission for the nursing home plan was the intensification of use along what the council called “a sub-standard access lane” from Harbour Rd leading to the site.

The council stated that this would endanger public safety due to the traffic hazard the project would present.

On Wednesday, Mr Kenny that he was glad it has been acknowledged by the council that the laneway leading to the site is substandard and not capable of sustaining much of an increase in traffic volumes safely.

He stated: “The safety of the children who walk and cycle on the lane is paramount.”

A spokeswoman for Bartra would not be drawn when asked if the new plan will be a scaled-back version of the proposed scheme.

However, Bartra will have to address the grounds of refusal by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council if it is to be successful with its new planning application.

In its comprehensive refusal, the Council ruled that the planned nursing home scheme would depreciate the value of property in the vicinity, and if permitted, set an undesirable precedent for similar development in the area.

The Council also ruled that due to the massing, scale and design of the proposal, it would adversely impact on the residential amenity of adjacent properties due to overlooking and its overbearing appearance.

The Council also determined that the scheme would detract from the existing visual and residential amenities of the area.

The grounds for refusal echoed many of the grounds of objection made by the Kennys during the course of their 15-page objection.

In their objection concerning the proposed nursing home, Pat Kenny and Kathy Kenny told the Council if the nursing home is permitted, it “would detrimentally impact” on their home, The Anchorage, which adjoins the nursing home site to the south east.

The Kennys argued the proposal “would also set a precedent that could ultimately seriously damage the character of the area”.

In terms of the scale and massing of the proposal, the Kennys stated “this proposal inserts a monolithic concrete structure effectively in the middle of back gardens of current residents adjoining the site”.

The Kennys also argued the development proposed would utterly change the character of the neighbourhood, by inserting what is effectively a large commercially driven five-storey project into a two-storey domestic housing environment.

If Mr Barrett’s Bartra Capital is unsuccessful with its new nursing home plan, it can still press ahead with its plans to construct 18 apartments and six houses on the same 1.4 acre site after securing planning permission for the scheme in July 2019.

The Kennys and local residents had also opposed that scheme.

Online Editors