Green light given for 240-home Bandon housing development despite objections
Kenneth Fox
A major 240-home housing development has been given the green light on the northern edge of Bandon despite attracting 20 objections from residents.
Cork County Council has granted permission to Wayleaf B Limited for the large-scale development at Coolfadda and Kilbrogan, subject to 79 planning conditions.
The scheme will comprise 156 houses, 84 apartments, and a crèche catering for up to 60 children.
The development will also include landscaped open spaces, pedestrian and cycle routes, a new bridge over the Kilbrogan Stream and improvements to Kilbrogan Street, including a raised pedestrian crossing and a footpath linking the site to Bandon Town Park.
The proposal prompted 20 valid submissions, with residents raising concerns about increased traffic, road safety, access arrangements and whether local roads could cope with the additional vehicles.
Other objections centred on the capacity of schools and local services, the scale and density of the development, overlooking and privacy, noise, drainage and water quality, and the potential impact on neighbouring properties during construction.
Planning officials concluded the concerns could be addressed through planning conditions and said the development represented an appropriate residential density on land already zoned for housing. They also found it would not seriously affect the residential or visual amenities of the area and would provide an acceptable standard of living for future residents
The planners noted the site presented significant challenges because of its steep topography, flood-risk areas, and the Kilbrogan Stream running through the lands.
However, they found the revised design worked with those constraints and created new links between existing housing estates and the town centre while incorporating the stream and surrounding ecological corridor into the layout.
Among the conditions attached to the permission is a requirement that the crèche be completed and operational before construction begins on the third phase of the development.
