Council asks developer to redesign estate plan
THE developer behind the proposed housing scheme on the site of Coill na Giúise on the Ballytegan Road in Gorey, will have to go back to the drawing board after Wexford County Council refused permission for 56 houses on the site.
Anthony Neville applied for permission to demolish the seven partly completed houses on the 3.22 hectare site at Ballytegaan Park and to replace them with 56 houses, including a mix of detached, semi-detached, and terrace houses.
In refusing permission for the development, the planning authority said that the development, by virtue of its design, layout, and density, failed to provide a high quality living environment with attractive and efficient buildings located in a high quality public realm and serviced by well designed and located open spaces. This, the Council felt, would be contrary to the Wexford County Development Plan 2013 to 2019.
The planning authority also felt that the road and footpath network in the area is inadequate to accommodate the proposed development, and as such, the development would result in a traffic hazard.
Documents on the planning file indicate the developer had proposed to transfer five of the houses at a reasonable commercial profit, to the local authority or people nominated by the authority for affordable housing.
In 2008, the previous owner got permission to build 78 houses and a creche on the site.
The planner who prepared the report for the application felt the design of the estate was inward looking and would effectively be enclosed by a wall. While this layout was previously approved in the past, the planner wasn’t satisfied that the development would ‘integrate into the urban grain’ given the fact that the development faces inwards.
The site is bounded by a land which has been earmarked for a proposed link road to the east. This link would complete the inner relief road onto the Arklow Road. They said the provision of the proposed link road is not included in the proposed development, and that the new estate needs to front onto this road, and incorporate the road into the design of the estate.