Housing application is ‘premature’ – council
AN APPLICATION to build four houses, on a site adjacent to the protected structure of Ashfield House, has been refused by Wexford County Council.
KLS Developments Ltd had applied for the construction of four, four-bed houses on the site which is in the ownership of Oakville Homes Ltd.
In their submission, architects for KLS explained that the site was 400m from lands owned by Oakville that were subject to a separate planning application for 35 houses, as a first phase of a bigger development.
The architects, Larkin Associates, state in their submission that the four houses are included in the Part V requirements as set out in an enclosed Part V agreement for the development of Phase 1 of the adjacent lands.
They said: ‘The Part V agreement in principal will cover these four houses as four houses have been agreed to be handed over to Wexford County Council in Phase 1 of the adjacent development which is in the ownership of Oakville Homes Ltd, which covers the construction of 35 units. It is proposed to construct 39 units in total between the two sites.’
The county council planner’s report focused particularly on access to the development, pointing out that the proposed access through a farm entrance/laneway off the Glenville Road was ‘wholly inadequate to service a housing development’ and they would refuse on those grounds.
They also drew attention to the layout of the development which would see boundary roads and the backs of houses facing onto a road. This, they said, was inappropriate in an urban setting and would result in an inactive street with poor visual representation.
Finally, the connection between the KLS application and the Oakville one was considered.
It was stated: ‘The ability to develop this site is dependent on the development of Oakville Homes site for water/sewer/road infrastructure. The Oakville application has been invalidated, therefore this application is premature.’
The Oakville Homes application has since been resubmitted and is awaiting a decision.