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PLANS FOR A €75 million retail park in Carrickmines, Dublin, are continuing to face objections, including from the owners of Drundrum Town Centre.
Property fund Input secured planning permission from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council last month, despite concerns expressed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the National Transport Authority (NTA) about the impact the development would have on traffic volumes, particularly on the M50 motorway.
Dundrum Retail Limited Partnership (DLRP), the company that owns Dundrum Town Centre, has appealed the decision to grant permission to An Bord Pleanála.
While it stated that it has “no objection in principle to the development” of this site, it is “extremely concerned” about its scale.
It argued that any move to promote significant additional retail and leisure space to “out-of-centre” locations such as Carrickmines should be rejected. Instead this should be directed to town and district centres where there is a higher local demand, it claimed.
The submission described the proposed retail floorspace as “excessive for a neighbourhood centre” and claimed there is no “immediate residential catchment population” to justify the level of retail provision.
It also argued that there is no policy justifiable for the level of food and beverage uses proposed for the location and that they will undermine the viability of existing town and district centres.
DLRP said it agreed with previous submissions made by the NTA and TII that this development will contribute to “unsustainable car dependency due to a regional draw and the lack of sufficient local population catchment to justify the scale”.
A local couple has also appealed to An Bord Pleanála, expressing concern about motorists using the curb outside their home to park as this is already a regular occurrence.
DLRP has requested that the planning board hold an oral hearing as part of its determination of this appeal. The case is to be decided by September this year.
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Seven US states have tightened their abortion laws so far this year, including high-profile cases in Alabama and Georgia. Why is this happening now – and could abortion end up being restricted across the US? Or even banned? Sinead O’Carroll, Aoife Barry and Christine Bohan look for answers in the latest episode of The Explainer, our new podcast.
https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/why-are-so-many-us-states-tightening-abortion-laws-right-now
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You spend ages waiting on a bus and then 800 come along at once…
@The Alchemist’s Head: Rail seems to be the only way forward for inner city commuting. Its a logistical nightmare trying to set it up but I’d say its well worth it in the long run.
Great news but did I miss where the country has won the lottery recently? Where is all the money coming from? Or is it a case of when you are broke you might as well spend big?
@Bo bo: Interest rates are set at zero or negative by the European Central Bank and they are printing endless amounts of money for capital spending. The EU is providing lots of funds for green initiatives as well. There will never be a better time to do this.
@Bo bo: credit card!!
And where does the recharge power come from? Solar, wind, tidal? No, it would be fossil fuels.
This is window dressing.
@Fred the Muss…: Fossil fuel is being phased out rapidly. Moneypoint and coal will be gone by 2025.
@Fred the Muss…: The thousands getting hosed down by, & / or inhaling, diesel exhaust fumes daily probably won’t agree with that… besides, electric from renewables increasing every year – 15% in 2010, 33% in 2018, 37% in 2019. Compare that to the 15 years Euro 4 to Euro 6′s been around – zero improvements required re: CO2, & as for NOX – well, we all know how manufacturers have been getting around that.
@Fred the Muss…: yes Window Dressing that’s a great way of putting it, how the power is generated (electricity) and all the manufacturing processes especially the batteries the maintenance etcétera, then it has to start somewhere for it to develop
Good news for the environment but I wonder what the lasting impact of COVID on public transport will be. As someone sitting on a bus writing this right now it’s very hard not to view them as giant germ boxes with poor ventilation and inconsiderate fellow passengers. Will everyone who swapped the bus or train for the car over the past few months suddenly rush back after there’s a vaccine? I have my doubts.
@David Law: very simple. Your Leap card is replaced with the microchip you get as part of vaccination. You can’t get in the bus without the microchip.
@David Law: They will if the traffic is appalling.
How is the electricity required for the batteries produced?
@Claude Saulnier: How are the batteries actually produced ? Interesting to see how manufactured and recycled at scale when everyone drives electric
@Wadi:
‘We now have a contractual agreement with our cell manufacturers that they will use only green power to produce our fifth generation battery cells,’ BMW Chief Executive Oliver Zipse said…
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-bmw-electric-batteries/bmw-to-source-battery-cells-produced-using-renewable-energy-idUKKBN24114R
As for battery recycling, VW’s building a plant for that
https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2019/02/lithium-to-lithium-manganese-to-manganese.html
At what cost?
Don’t suppose any of these buses will be running all week so i can use them for work? or will it just be part time like the rest of them?
This looks like total greenwash as (It’s reported) the buses will still run for about 85% of the time on diesel and all need to be recharged at night at the same time. A much cheaper and better solution would be to buy the sort of modern Trolleybuses that are used in 300 odd cities worldwide. Modern Trolleys have enough battery power to run 50 or 60 Km in town and recharge from the overhead wires while in use. They also have lowered floors like all other modern buses. Also the problems with the poles coming off the wires is largely solved now but most importantly they are POLLUTION FREE.
@mmz: ‘the buses will still run for about 85% of the time on diesel’
Huh? This tender seeks buses with a 300kWh minimum battery. Think you’re confused with the hybrids.
Its a start but they will be refundant in 7/8 years with the batteries depleted and the cost of replacement prohibitive…..why are we once again the last country to look at hydrogen fuel cell technology…we should be following the advances made in Japan, Korea, China and Australia and adopt hydroggen for all HGV goods as well as promoting a whole new indusry for green hydrogen production….
have your say