Planners reject bid to ditch crèche in favour of housing in Limerick
A BID BY developers to secure permission for more housing at the expense of a crèche in Limerick has failed amid concerns at a lack of childcare facilities.
Bloomfield Homes Ltd was seeking the green light to alter the details of a planning permission it secured in 2016 at its development in Annacotty.
This was for a single-storey crèche, with the company seeking instead to build four two-storey semi-detached homes in its place.
However, Limerick City and County Council refused to give the go-ahead to the change, a decision which was then backed up on appeal to An Bord Pleanala.
Both council and the national planning appeals body stated that the provision of childcare facilities is an “integral part” of plans for new residential developments.
Limerick council planners refused permission, writing in its judgement: “Having regard to the level of new housing permitted within the Bloomfield development and the lack of childcare facilities in the immediate vicinity, it is considered the proposed development would materially contravene (...) the Castletroy local area plan.”
In simple terms, the area plan is a document which ultimately governs what can be built in Limerick and where, and forms the basis of what planning applications are approved in areas.
Council also stated that replacing a crèche with houses would contravene the 2001 Childcare Facilities Guidelines for Planning Authorities.
Agents for the developer had stated in an appeal against the council’s decision that it was not possible to attract a company to develop or operate a crèche.
They also pointed out Bloomfield is a completed residential area established for 20 years, and as a result, the requirement for a new crèche is “minimal”.
In a summary, An Bord Pleanala said the company’s agents submitted that the estate’s “age profile has moved beyond generating numerous young children and that there is capacity in existing facilities.”
Remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic, they also argued, has brought about a “sea change” in the working patterns of families.
“The first party submit that if viability was not established before 2020, it is highly unlikely to be established post-2020,” An Bord Pleanala said in their synopsis.