An Bord Pleanála grant permission for renovation and extension of derelict Ballina property

AN Bord Pleanála has overturned a decision by Mayo County Council to refuse planning permission for the renovation and extension of a house in Ballina due to concerns over the sightlines to the entrance to the dwelling.

Mayo County Council refused planning permission to Ronan Hallinan of Ballymoneen, Enniscrone, Co Sligo to demolish an existing extension to a derelict house and construct an extension to the rear of the same building which will also be refurbished. The development is located along Church Road in the townlands of Ardnaree or Shanaghy and Carrowcushlaun approximately 2 km from Ballina.

The planning authority had initially indicated that planning would be approved for the development but subsequently changed the decision. The local authority planners expressed concerns that the applicant had not demonstrated to their satisfaction that 120 metre sighting distances can be achieved and as a result the proposed development would be a traffic hazard and endanger public safety.

The existing dwelling house is presently in a derelict condition and the existing entrance is overgrown and unkept and the public road is governed by a 80 km per hour speed limit. Under planning guidelines, sightlines of 120 metres from a three metre setback are required on roads with a 80 km per hour speed limit.

In his appeal to An Bord Pleanála, Ms Orlagh Cawley of OMD Design, an agent of Mr Hallinan, stated that following further information, a revised site layout plan was submitted indicating sightlines of 120m in both directions at a point three metre setback from the road edge. A letter of consent from the adjoining landowner to remove 18m of boundary hedging has also been provided.

The engineer for the local district office sought that planning permission be deferred and the applicant carry out the removal of the front boundary wall and hedging in order to assess sightlines from the existing access. For financial reasons Ms Cawley indicated that these works were not completed and would be completed prior to commencement of development.

Ms Cawley also pointed out that the derelict house can be extended by up to 40 square metres with no planning consent. Mr Hallinan, she said, could proceed on this basis but decided to improve the entrance through the planning process.

“The extension proposed as part of this application does not constitute an intensification of use, merely improved living conditions in a safer traffic environment. The applicant has no objection to carrying out the works to improve the sightlines prior to construction works on site,” she stated.

In his planning report, Darragh Ryan, Inspector with An Bord Pleanála stated that he considers the upgrade of the existing entrance to facilitate sightlines to be generally acceptable and did not consider the requirement to carry our works in advance of providing planning permission to be a warranted approach by the local authority.

“I consider the proposal to upgrade the existing entrance through the removal of the front boundary wall and setting back of site boundaries to be acceptable,” he stated.

Mr Ryan did note that the removal of established front boundary hedging has the potential to adversely affect local biodiversity by causing the loss of native vegetation.

In order to mitigate the impact on the local biodiversity, he recommended that, as a condition of any planning permission granted, the applicant should be required to replant a hedgerow behind the new sightline comprising native tree species during the initial planting season following the commencement of the development.

Mr Ryan recommended to the Board of An Bord Pleanála that permission be granted as he did not believe the proposed development would give rise to the creation of a traffic hazard.

The Board of An Bord Pleanála accepted the recommendation of Mr Ryan and granted Mr Hallinan planning permission for the development subject to eight conditions.