Unconstructed houses blamed on market crash

THE collapse in the property market has been blamed by a local developer for the non-construction of 169 houses planned for the Roslevan area. An application by Finn Properties to extend planning permission for the development of houses and a distributor road at Oakleigh Wood, Knockaderry, Tulla Road, has now been refused by Ennis Town Council.
Finn Properties had originally been granted permission in 2007, subject to 41 conditions, for the development consisting of a number of different house types, pump houses and associated drainage, continuation of existing access road and all associated site works. However, no development work has commenced on the site. The granting of planning permission expired in November of last year.
An application was made by Finn Properties for the planning permission to be extended by another five years, with the developer stating they expect the project could recommence in 2015.
According to the developer’s application to Ennis Town Council for the extension of permission, “The property market collapsed in 2008 and has not yet recovered. Finn Properties is a long-established house builder in Ennis with a significant land bank in Roslevan. This permission, which the company wishes to extend, includes a housing development and building a section for the distributor road network, which is part of the planned road system in the current Ennis and Environs  Plan 2008. The whole site lies within the Roslevan (Eastern) Serviced Land Initiative (SLI) Area, designated by the councils, circa 2000.
“Finn Properties, which is an active and viable local builder, believes the local market will recover within three years. There will then be good demand for housing in this serviced and relatively central and accessible site.”
In assessing the application to extend planning permission, planners with Ennis Town Council noted that since the original granting of permission, a new development plan has come into operation. The planners found the proposal is not in accordance with Section 42 of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2010.
In refusing to extend the period of planning permission, the local authority stated, “It is considered there have been significant changes in the development objectives in the development plan for the area of the planning authority since the date of the grant of permission, such that the development would no longer be consistent with the proper planning and sustaintable development of the area.”