An Irish Planning Students Blog

DEVELOPERS ARE facing severe restrictions on the construction of high-rise buildings in Dublin city following the introduction of the new Dublin City Development Plan next year.

City councillors last night agreed to ban the construction of buildings above 28m (92ft) – about half the height of Liberty Hall – unless a statutory plan called a Local Area Plan (Lap) was drafted for the area in question. Such a plan could take several years to develop.

This would block the construction of any further high-rise or even medium-rise buildings in areas previously earmarked by the council for tall buildings such as the Docklands, Heuston and Connolly stations and George’s Quay.

(more…)

Decisions made this week by Dublin city councillors will determine the height and scale of future developments, writes FRANK MACDONALD

WHETHER NEW buildings in Dublin should be relatively high or low has become the most contentious issue confronting councillors as they begin a series of special meetings today to deal with the draft Dublin City Development Plan 2011-2017.

On the one hand, An Taisce maintains the current draft prepared by city planners “will fuel a future splurge of land speculation and undermine decades of the planning control that has maintained Dublin as a historic low-rise major European city”.

(more…)

A LEADING academic has denounced decentralisation as a failed strategy which has undermined the institutional fabric of the state and become a charter for mileage claims, writes Anita Guidera.

Professor Brigid Laffin, principal of the college of humanities at UCD, told the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, yesterday that failures of accountability went beyond unethical behaviour to the performance of public institutions and those holding positions of responsibility.

(more…)

FACILITIES FOR houseboats; horse-drawn barges; markets; concerts; water sports, shops and restaurants are proposed for the Royal and Grand canals in Dublin in a new report from Waterways Ireland.

The Dublin City Canals Study recommends a range of recreation, tourism and commercial schemes to protect and improve the canals and open up both waterways to a greater range of uses.

The study focuses on the Dublin city sections of the canals within the curtilage of the M50, from Spencer Dock to Granard Bridge in Blanchardstown on the Royal Canal on the northside of the city, and from Grand Canal Dock to Blackhorse Bridge at Inchicore on the southside.

(more…)

BUSINESS LEADERS in the southeast have described as “reckless foolishness” the planned closure of the Rosslare to Waterford railway line, linking two of the country’s principal ports.

The service, which had been due to close permanently from tomorrow, has received a temporary reprieve as various State bodies argue over its future.

Iarnród Éireann has confirmed that its plan to “suspend” trains from July 21st and launch a replacement Bus Éireann service will not be implemented as scheduled. The closure of the line cannot proceed without the approval of the National Transport Authority, which is not now expected to announce its decision until “at least” September.

(more…)

Minister for the Environment John Gormley has rejected as “scaremongering” and “absolute nonsense” claims that the State will face massive EU fines for landfill waste if the controversial Poolbeg incinerator does not go ahead.

The Minister also said he would this week receive the report of the “authorised officer” he appointed in March to examine the contract between Dublin City Council and a consortium to build the €350 million incinerator.

(more…)

STATE-OWNED energy group Bord na Móna has received planning permission from Offaly County Council for a €120 million wind farm at its peat production site in Mountlucas in the county.

The proposed development forms part of Bord na Móna’s long-term strategy to develop a portfolio of generating assets, including wind farms and a complementary flexible thermal plant.

The Mountlucas wind farm will have a generating capacity of 80 megawatts and will be capable of supplying power to up to 45,000 homes.

An application for connection of the wind farm to the national grid has been made to EirGrid.

It is scheduled to get an offer for connection to the system in early 2011.

The wind farm will comprise 32 wind turbines, access trackways, crane hard-standings, underground cables between the turbines and a 110kV electricity substation.

It is expected that the construction of the wind farm will take place over 18 to 24 months and will involve 30 workers employed on the project at peak.

Bord Na Móna said the wind farm would reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 125,000 tonnes each year.

The State-owned company has been involved in milled peat production operations at the Offaly site since the 1950s and peripheral parts of the bog are still used for this purpose. Those areas of the site that are still in active peat production will not be affected by the development of the wind farm, the company said.

The Government has set a target of 40 per cent of power generation from renewable sources by 2020

IrishTimes

Only time will tell!

SPIKE ISLAND was officially handed over to Cork County Council yesterday for use as a tourist amenity amid efforts to develop it into an attraction comparable to Alcatraz in the US.

Alcatraz in San Francisco, which was only a prison for 20 years, attracts about 1.4 million visitors each year while Fort McHenry, off Baltimore, which served as a transit prison during the American Civil War, receives about 700,000 visitors annually.

Spike was first a prison in the mid-19th century, often the last place in Ireland prisoners saw before being transported overseas. At the time it held as many as 2,500 prisoners. (more…)

A very big thank you to Daragh and John at Real eyes Sustainability for having students along to these talks. they were great! Really made you felt good about your profession and hey maybe we as individuals can change our world for the better.

I have attached the presentations which john ever so graciously uploaded to the real eyes website:

(more…)

Picked this up from Brendan Buck’s Planning Blog

Article by Isobel Morton:

RECENTLY, I made the huge mistake of trying to explain the Irish planning process to English clients who wish to renovate their recently purchased period home in Dublin.

After 45 minutes of their questions and my total inability to provide them with adequate answers, we gave up.

I am absolutely sure they thought I was lying through my teeth, mentally unhinged and suffering from some sort of planner phobia (the latter I will admit to, as it may well be the case).

They spoke very slowly and smiled through gritted teeth as they politely rephrased their questions for the umpteenth time, in the hope that this tragically simple Irish woman might eventually understand. (more…)