BREAKING: An Bord Pleanála overturns Kildare County Council's approval for Newbridge mansion

An Bord Pleanála (ABP) has decided to overturn a decision by Kildare County Council to grant planning permission to a proposed 11,000 square foot mansion in Newbridge.

The Leinster Leader previously reported back in 2022 that a number of local residents, including Fianna Fáil councillor Rob Power, lodged objections to ABP against the granting of permission for the development of a large-home which would be located on land zoned Community and Education.

Commenting on ABP's latest decision, Cllr Power said: "I am really thrilled that ABP have made the decision to reject this crass development which threatened to take up so much prime land in the heart of Newbridge."

"At the time I stated that this site, adjoining the Liffey Linear Park, represents a key open space and has been identified in the draft town renewal plan as lands suitable for leisure activities."

Fianna Fáil Cllr Rob Power standing outside the headquarters of An Bord Pleanála. Photograph supplied by Cllr Power.

Cllr Power also discussed the future of the site, which he said could include a change of zoning later this year.

He said: "A key feature of this entire discussion was the ambiguity about what is and isn’t permissible on land zoned Community and Education."

"It’s my hope that later this year, Newbridge councillors will zone this land as open space and amenity so as to prevent any further confusion about what this site represents, namely, one of our last opportunities to deliver a public park of significance for the future generations of Newbridge," he concluded.

DECISION

Below is the wording given as the Reasons and Considerations of ABP's decision to overturn the grant of planning:

"The Board considered that the application site, with a stated area of 1.548 hectares, which retains the benefits of public infrastructure and services including water, wastewater, access, and footpaths, along with its close proximity to the town centre, commercial and retail development, community services and public transport, and access to adjoining recreational amenities represents an unacceptably low density to maximise proper use of serviced lands and fails to address its spatial relationship with the town centre.

"Having regard to:

• The provisions of the National Planning Framework (2018) which aims to promote compact growth within towns and villages, and specifically National Policy Objectives NPO 4, NPO 5 and NPO 6 which seek to deliver higher residential densities in towns
• Newbridge town's designation as a Self-Sustaining Growth Town in the Kildare County Development Plan 2023-2029 which is required to be developed in an efficient and consolidated manner, and:
• The policies and objectives of the Kildare County Development Plan 2023-2029 in particular CSO 1, CSO 5 and HP 06 which seek to promote compact growth, residential consolidation and the future growth and spatial development in towns and villages in County Kildare as set out in the Core Strategy.

"The Board considered that the proposed development would result in an inefficient and unsustainable use of serviced lands in close proximity to a town centre and would give rise to increased urban sprawl, as demand for housing is met by development further out from established town cores.

"The proposed development would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area," ABP concluded.