Plans for 65 houses in Roscommon are turned down

Roscommon County Council has refused a planning application to erect 65 houses at Lisnamult, Roscommon.

According to the council planners the proposed development, which would be located for the most part on un-zoned lands outside the Roscommon Town Local Area Plan boundary would, if permitted, undermine the principles of the core strategy set out in the Roscommon County Development Plan 2022-2028, including in particular policy objectives, which collectively promote sustainable settlement patterns, the direction of growth towards designated settlements and the delivery of existing zoned and serviced lands to facilitate population growth and achieve sustainable compact growth.

The proposal for a multi-unit housing development failed, they said, to comply with policy which seeks to facilitate single houses in rural areas subject to appropriate siting and design criteria and in the case of such housing proposals in Areas under Urban Influence requires applicants to demonstrate a social or economic link to the rural area in which the development is proposed. The principle of the proposed development was therefore fundamentally unacceptable and accordingly was contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

The refusal further outlined that it had not been demonstrated that the additional traffic movements arising from the proposed development would not adversely affect the capacity, safety or operational efficiency of the national road network. It was considered that the proposed development had the potential to endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and would interfere with the safety and free flow of traffic on this national road.

The third reason given for refusal was that insufficient information had been submitted to demonstrate that the applicant had sufficient legal entitlement to access the site via the existing Abbeyville housing development and to gain access to essential infrastructure such as the public sewer and mains through this housing estate, which constituted an unfinished housing development and had not been taken in charge.

It was also stated that the proposed development by reason of its design and layout would fail to satisfactorily comply with the design principles set out in the Roscommon County Development Plan 2022-2028 and would not provide a sufficiently high quality residential environment. The proposed development, if permitted, would adversely impact on the residential amenity of future residents and the residents of existing Abbeyville housing development.

An appeal against this decision can be made to An Bord Pleanála within four weeks from the date of the council’s decision.