- Works now due to commence Wednesday 26th February -
25th Feb - Works now scheduled to commence tomorrow 26th February - "Road resurfacing will commence tomorrow morning with road markings to follow shortly afterwards".
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20th February 2025 - Ballyowen Castle Shopping Centre Management company Robzala stated that works promised to upgrade the entrance road and other parts in its remit should commence this Friday 21st February. - Updated 4:30pm today to say now it’s “early next week”.
Hopefully this starts on schedule and is not delayed any further. This welcome news follows a long campaign by myself and Shane Moynihan TD to try and get these works expedited. It follows my recent appeal to An Bord Pleanála seeking conditions on a new planning permission that the roadworks be carried out in advance.
This appeal has been withdrawn in order to facilitate early occupancy of a new GP surgery and I welcome Robzala’s move to get the upgrade works started after giving this commitment to me before Christmas.
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Earlier updates:
This article relates to ongoing resident complaints about the condition of the surface of the entrance roadway into the above shopping centre, as well as markings and related concerns about lighting. I've also received separate complaints about litter in the past which were raised with the Litter Warden. So it’s an issue I’ve been following up over several year.
For those coming to the sorry later, this is not a public area in the charge of the Council. The roadway is overseen by Robzala Properties Ltd, which manages the main Shopping Centre Complex where Eurospar is located. It has nothing to do with the Penny Hill or Lidl. An application was submitted earlier this year by Robzala for an extension to the shopping area. I made a submission in February seeking conditions that the developer maintain the road to a good standard. With further information received, I made a second submission in August and a decision by SDCC was given September. This was then appealed to An Bord Pleanála. More details below.
14th February
A number of people have queried the delay in works so I contacted the management company again and was told that they should commence later this month. I will update again when I have more precise information.
14th January
After some discussions with Robzala Ltd they were able to schedule a contractor and a date of 27th January next is listed. However they did say that this was subject to contractor schedules and weather so nothing should is set in stone as of yet.
29th October 2024
Notified that management company is “making progress” on scheduling the works.
22nd October 2024
I was contacted by Robzala on 6th October after my appeal was lodged and met with representatives on 9th October last. I was given a commitment that they would look at pricing for works to improve the entrance road.
They also appeared before the Area Committee earlier today 22nd on foot of a motion by Cllr Moynihan. I am now more hopeful that this issue can be resolved before the Board has to deliberate (a process I was told could take 18 months). If this is the case there would be no need to keep the appeal going as it would then delay the centre’s expansion unnecessarily.
I will be monitoring this situation closely.
7th October 2024
Appeal accepted as valid by the Board. Anyone wishing to make an observation now has until the last week in October to do so. This can be done online at a cost of €50.
Bord Pleanála Case reference: PL06S.320932
Planning Authority Case Reference: SD24A/0004
The link to the application is here: https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/320932
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30th September 2024
Appeal lodged with An Bord Pleanála seeking conditions to upgrade the entrance roadway before works commence.
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29th September 2024
SDCC granted permission on 2nd September last. Unfortunately they did not impose conditions that make fixing the road essential for the extension works to commence .
I subsequently wrote to the architect who made the submission for Robzala asking for an indication as to whether the company would be carrying out these works earlier given that SDCC cannot and will not take the roadway in charge without it being upgraded. No reply received as deadline for an An Bord Pleanala appeal approached.
The details of the planning decision are listed in the file documents here under Chief Executive Order and conditions : https://planning.agileapplications.ie/southdublin/application-details/65417
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20th August 2024 - I've put in a second submission before today's deadline responding to the additional information sought by the Council and provided by Robzala. It reiterates the need for works to be done IN ADVANCE of any granted permission for the extension.
This additional submission can be viewed here:
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10th August 2024 - Additional information received declared as “significant additional information”. This means it’s open again for people to put in planning submissions seeking entrance road upgrades as part of the development. See: https://planning.agileapplications.ie/southdublin/application-details/65417
Deadline 20th August.
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26th May 2024 - SDCC still awaiting "additional information" from Robzala Properties Limited. Also, there is a discrepancy between what the developer said in correspondence to Councillors about the central roadway on the site and what the Council says needs to be done as part of any taking in charge process.
As you will know from my video updates and Facebook posts, I've been chasing up issues in relation to litter, lighting and the central roadway in this centre for some time as has Councillor Shane Moynihan. So as a reminder, Cllr Moynihan had a motion last year asking SDCC to write to the developer - which I supported - and the reply when it finally came back was interesting:
This letter received in February but brought to the Area Committee at the end of March suggested that the developer was in the process of getting SDCC to take the central roadway in charge so the Council could resurface the road.
This did not make sense to me and so I put in a query to SDCC about the taking in charge process and what correspondence had issued from Robzala to date in relation to this. SDCC's reply is below:
As it stands this makes me more inclined to appeal any decision to An Bord Pleanála unless the application is refused or there is a very strict condition by the Council for the developer to upgrade this central roadway which many residents have been complaining about.
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11th March 2024 - Following on from my initial submission, SDCC has made a decision on the application and has requested "additional information"...
Having queried issues like road markings, lining, lighting etc in the context of this plan, it is good to see that the Roads Section is looking for conditions in any final decision:
"SDCC’s Roads Department has also requested that any permission that is issued include the following two planning conditions: 1. The applicant shall clearly mark parking and pedestrian routes and pedestrian crossings. 2. The applicant is requested to provide adequate lighting on the site."
Click link here to see application, including the details of the additional information request: https://planning.agileapplications.ie/southdublin/application-details/65417
Click below to see my submission:
ENDS
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