Westmeath County Council issued a refusal of permission to Daracom Limited for 38no. dwellings and the re-routing of the primary access via Gleann Petit at Lakepoint, Dublin Road, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, which was appealed to An Bord Pleanála ,who granted permission on 29th September, 2016 (PL25M.246683).
The vast majority of the site is zoned Residential ‘O-LZ1’ in the Mullingar Local Area Plan (MLAP) 2014 – 2020 i.e. “to provide for residential development, associated services and to protect and improve residential amenity”, a portion of the western part of the site is zoned Open Space / Amenity ‘O-LZ7’ i.e. “To provide for, protect and improve the provision, attractiveness, accessibility and amenity value of public open space and amenity areas, including public open spaces.”
While all of the residential units proposed are located within the residential zoned land and therefore are ‘acceptable in principle’, a new access road to serve the proposed 38 houses from Gleann Petit Drive is proposed to cross the existing zoned public open space area.
The An Bord Pleanála Inspector commented that it is stated that ‘only development that is incidental to, or contributes to the enjoyment of open space, amenity or recreational facilities will be permitted within this zone’, access roads are not referred to in the land use zoning matrix.
The Inspector also commented that the access as proposed allows for greater permeability for residents and is in accordance with the ‘Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas, 2009’ which states that ‘connectivity and permeability’ should influence the layout and design of streets in residential areas and that ‘convenient access needs to be provided between and within areas, particularly to larger community and commercial facilities and to places of work. Routes within the area should be accessible for everyone and as direct as possible’. It is also more in accordance with DMURS (Design Manual for Urban Road and Streets, 2013).
The Inspector was also of the opinion that the subject proposal does not constitute a material contravention of the MLAP 2014 – 2020 given that the land use matrix does not include ‘access’ or ‘road’, it is technically a type of development which is NOT ‘not permitted’, ‘open for consideration’ or ‘permitted’. The Plan does not set out the status of land uses ‘not’ prescribed in the LAP.
In granting permission, the Board had regard to the quantum and configuration of existing and proposed open space provision, and the limited extent to which the proposed access road serving the development will traverse lands zoned Open Space in the Mullingar Local Area Plan 2014-2020 required compensatory Open Space provision by condition.