| Ryanair pulling out of Belfast City Airport |
| Ryanair is pulling out of Belfast City Airport from October, it was revealed today. Five routes to London Stansted, Liverpool, East Midlands, Bristol and Glasgow Prestwick will be withdrawn. Airport spokeswoman Katy Best said she was extremely disappointed. "Ryanair will cease services from Belfast City Airport on 31 October 2010. Passengers are advised to check with Ryanair for bookings made after that date," she said. The airline has supported the George Best Belfast City Airport's bid to secure a runway extension at its site in the east of the city. It has been running on a reduced passenger load since its operations were established in October 2007. There are also restrictions on night-time flying. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 31/08/2010 ( Reads : 21 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| NAMA firm given the green light to build 600 new houses |
| A DEVELOPMENT company going into NAMA has been given permission to build more than 600 new homes in south Dublin. Cosgrave Developments -- owned by brothers Joe, Peter and Michael -- has been given the green light to build the second phase of a massive housing scheme on the former home of Dun Laoghaire Golf Club. Construction work on the first phase of 848 units is already under way, and yesterday An Bord Pleanala granted planning permission for 605 more units, saying that despite the lack of an overall plan on how the area should be developed, it constituted 'proper' planning. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 12/08/2010 ( Reads : 43 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Planning permission granted for Buddhist temple in west Cork |
| Planning permission has been granted for Ireland's first traditional style Buddhist temple which is due to be built near Allihies in west Cork, writes Olivia Kelleher. The Dzogchen Beara Trust plans to build a 14.5 metre high temple with three additional adjacent single storey buildings on the site of its existing retreat centre at Garranes. Cork County Council has granted planning permission for the project. However, the building of the temple is dependent on the raising of €1 million. Over €100,000 has been collected to date. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 26/07/2010 ( Reads : 56 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Sustainable planning is cure for growth delusion |
| GERRY CRILLY Gerry Crilly, a member of An Taisce's national council, has been opposing suburban-style development in Dunleer, Co Louth, for the past 10 years: To move forward we need to honestly confront behaviour that is crippling us but gradually being exposed in reports and tribunals Five councillors drew up their own plan for Dunleer . . . with a suggested population increase of 40,000-50,000 THE BUILDING boom of the Celtic Tiger years has resulted in the dispersal and displacement of our people throughout the island to inappropriately located and badly designed housing estates More than 600 nationally of these are identified as "ghost estates". If we are to recover from this, we needs to recognise what went wrong. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 21/07/2010 ( Reads : 147 ) | Comments (3) | Planning |
| President urged to intervene as late change to planning Act sparks fears |
| THE LOBBY group Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) has written to President Mary McAleese urging her to convene the Council of State with a view to referring the planning Act to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality. A last-minute amendment to the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act means members of the public "will find it impossible to obtain legal representation if their costs will not be met, even when they win against the State", it warned. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 19/07/2010 ( Reads : 69 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Developers hit as land dezoning gets go-ahead |
| DEVELOPERS will lose hundreds of millions of euro after the Government ordered local authorities to dezone land earmarked for one million new houses the country doesn't need. The move to dezone 28,000 hectares across the country will hit thousands of developers and landowners who bought land at the height of the boom. They now face the prospect of owning worthless land banks on which hefty bank loans were secured and which may never be developed. Many developers bought farmland rezoned for housing, which massively increased the price. Loans were then taken out based on the value of these lands -- which will now become worthless -- but the loans will still have to be repaid. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 18/07/2010 ( Reads : 68 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| An Taisce dossier led Gormley to seek review of council's planning record |
| MINISTER FOR the Environment John Gormley appointed an inspector to review Dublin City Council's planning performance on foot of a "dossier" compiled by An Taisce, which claimed that it was operating in breach of the city development plan. In a letter to Mr Gormley last October, Ian Lumley and Kevin Duff of An Taisce alleged the council had "acted systematically in disregarding" the plan, contravened ministerial planning guidelines and shown "serious impropriety in the conduct of its functions" // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 05/07/2010 ( Reads : 92 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Planning approval slump hits builders |
THERE has been another drastic slump in the number of new homes and extensions being approved countrywide.
The number of planning permissions granted for new homes has fallen by 61pc this year, with just 5,510 approvals in the first quarter compared to 14,177 for the same period of last year.
The number of houses receiving the green light fell by 65pc to 3,585, and 28pc of these were for one-off homes, compared to 19pc in the same period of 2009, new figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 05/07/2010 ( Reads : 57 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Planning approval slump hits builders |
| THERE has been another drastic slump in the number of new homes and extensions being approved countrywide. The number of planning permissions granted for new homes has fallen by 61pc this year, with just 5,510 approvals in the first quarter compared to 14,177 for the same period of last year. The number of houses receiving the green light fell by 65pc to 3,585, and 28pc of these were for one-off homes, compared to 19pc in the same period of 2009, new figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 26/06/2010 ( Reads : 81 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Bid to prevent 'garden grabbing' in England |
| The Government will announce new measures to stop the practice of "garden grabbing" which has seen swathes of urban green space swallowed up by new housing developments. Decentralisation minister Greg Clark is giving local councils immediate powers to prevent the building of new homes in back gardens, which has been on the rise in recent years. According to the Communities and Local Government Department, the number of houses being built on gardens rose from one in 10 to a quarter of new properties between 1997 and 2008. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 11/06/2010 ( Reads : 94 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| I was hit by roof tile dislodged by jet, claims Belfast resident |
| George Best Belfast City Airport is facing further pressure to launch an independent inquiry into aircraft safety after an east Belfast man claimed he was injured by a roof tile dislodged by a passing plane. Don Melrose, who lives on Parkgate Drive, says he was hit on the top of the head by a falling slate just as he was about to leave his property on Tuesday night. He claims around six tiles were blown off as the aircraft made its landing approach just after 10pm. The plane also caused roof slates to dislodge from the home of his next door neighbour Natasha McCready, it’s claimed. It comes after roof tiles were blown off a bungalow in nearby Oval Court on Saturday. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 11/06/2010 ( Reads : 87 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Low-flying plane blew tiles off our roofs, claim locals |
Plans to extend an airport runway are under scrutiny again after residents claimed a low-flying aircraft sucked up to 20 tiles off their roofs. Authorities at George Best Belfast City Airport have launched an investigation after multiple sclerosis sufferer Jean Wright (55) said she heard a crash at her Oval Court home on Saturday and found tiles ripped off the roof. An airport spokeswoman said it was too early to be conclusive about the cause of the damage // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 11/06/2010 ( Reads : 95 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Bungalow blight fear as planning rules are relaxed |
| New planning rules that will relax curbs on ‘bungalow blight’ have been branded a “developers’ charter”. Environmental campaigners said the final version of PPS21, a policy limiting the building of single dwellings in the countryside, would create so many loopholes it would spark a free-for-all. Under the new rules, clusters of homes can be built in the countryside if there are already a minimum of three homes at a focal point such as a church, community hall or crossroads. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 02/06/2010 ( Reads : 135 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Donald Trump's golf resort plans hit the rough after mass purchase of land |
Opponents of Donald Trump's proposed golf resort in Scotland claim they have thwarted his plans through the mass purchase of land, a device used by campaigners against the expansion of Heathrow airport. Scores of people, including comedian Mark Thomas and wilderness hiker Cameron McNeish, have become joint owners of an acre of land previously owned by Michael Forbes, the quarryman and salmon netsman who has become Trump's most famous and obstinate opponent. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 27/05/2010 ( Reads : 123 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Pier's demolition ruled illegal |
| THE DÚN Laoghaire Harbour Company may have to reinstate a Victorian railway station on Carlisle Pier following a ruling by An Bord Pleanála that its demolition last autumn required planning permission. Following the demolition, Ciarán Cuffe TD - now Minister of State with responsibilities for planning - referred it to the appeals board, seeking a formal decision on whether or not it was "exempted development". The main basis of Mr Cuffe's complaint was that the 2008 Planning and Development Regulations reduced the size threshold under which structures could be demolished without permission to 100sq m. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 23/05/2010 ( Reads : 122 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Sweetman's 'Bad Day For Mayo' |
| Decentralisation ‘must go ahead' IT was a "bad day for Mayo" when Peter Sweetman objected to the decentralisation of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to Ireland West Airport, according to Swinford-based Cllr Joe Mellett. Cllr Mellett says the decentralisation should have been a lifeline for East Mayo and he has reiterated the view of public representatives in the area that decentralisation must take place, despite the obstacles the project has encountered. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 16/05/2010 ( Reads : 157 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Planning ‘frozen' while N59 route remains in limbo |
MAYO Co Council has been urged to once again engage in consultation with the public in relation to the preferred route option for the N59 realignment between Ballina and Crossmolina. Elected members of the Ballina electoral area committee were hugely critical of the prevailing situation in relation the road plan whereby the rejection of the preferred route option has left all lands in the study area indefinitely sterilised in terms of planning. At a meeting of the commmittee last week, the councillors were advised that a planning application for a house at Fotish had been recommended for refusal primarily because the site was located in the N59 study area. Cllr Eddie Staunton said something had to be done about the route options for the N59. The people of Crossmolina did not want the proposed bypass of the town. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 16/05/2010 ( Reads : 128 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Malone planning appeal dismissed |
| A decision to refuse planning permission to an extension to an office block in an affluent area of south Belfast has been upheld. Benmore Developments wanted to add a second and third floor to its offices at Rushmere House in Cadogan Park. Mark Watson of the Planning Appeals Commission laid out a number of grounds for upholding refusal of the plan. He said that the proposals would harm the character and appearance of the protected Malone Conservation area. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 12/05/2010 ( Reads : 97 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Official figures reveal massive over-zoning of land in Kerry |
| AT the height of the housing boom Kerry County Council rezoned enough land for more than six times the number of homes that will actually be required in the county between now and 2016. Figures provided to the Department of the Environment by Kerry County Council show that councillors re-zoned enough land for residential use in Kerry for 61,269 housing units. This is despite the fact that, in other submissions to the Department, Kerry County Council said that the number of housing units that would actually be needed in Kerry by 2016 was just 11,095. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 09/05/2010 ( Reads : 133 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
| Probe into council's 'irregular' planning decisions |
| Department takes action after series of complaints A MAJOR investigation will be launched into Carlow County Council after planning irregularities were uncovered during an official audit. The Irish Independent can today reveal a number of complaints have been made to Environment Minister John Gormley about the council, which will be subjected to an in-depth probe in the coming weeks. It is the first named council to be investigated under a fresh clampdown into planning issues. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 26/04/2010 ( Reads : 171 ) | Comments (0) | Planning |
