Residents celebrate as city green saved.

by Eoin English

The planning appeals board has saved a cherished city green from development. Residents were celebrating after An Bord Pleanála upheld a previous decision by Cork City Council to refuse planning permission for developer Ken Mahon’s controversial 44-unit apartment complex on Bishopscourt Green in the city’s western suburbs.
Mr. Mahon had appealed the council’s decision to the planning appeals board.
But in its ruling, the board said that from the time of the construction of the houses around the green in 1966, in accordance with the terms of the original permission, the site of the proposed apartment development “has been continuously used and maintained as a public recreation and amenity space by the residents of this housing estate.”
“Furthermore the board noted that the proposed apartment development would result in the loss of the greater part of this landscaped open area which constitutes an essential community facility for the residents of the nearby dwellings and also, which contributes positively to the visual character of the area,” inspector Tom O’Connor said.
As a result, the board said the proposed development would seriously injure the amenities of properties in the vicinity and the visual amenities of the area and would materially contravene the development plan.
Mr. Mahon was refused planning permission.
It was not clear last night whether Mr. Mahon will seek a judicial review. Local residents, who have been fighting to save the green since Mr. Mahon bought the site, said that they are prepared to fight on if needed.
“We have fought it this far - we’ll go the full distance” Keep Bishopscourt Green spokesman Neasan O’Shea said.
“We always felt we had a very strong case and we are very pleased to see the way the board has ruled on this.”
Senator Jerry Buttimer (FG), who lives nearby, said the decision would preserve the integrity of the community.
“This ruling was not just about this green. It had implications for greens in estates in cities around the country.”
The 1.6 acre green became the focus of a major community campaign in the summer of 2007 when it was put up for sale as part of the sale of a house which stands on its corner.
Residents were shocked to learn that the title of the green was included in the title to the house. The house and green were subsequently sold to Mr. Mahon.
He applied late in 2007 for outline planning permission to build four houses on the site. An unprecedented 95 submissions objecting to the project were received before city planners refused permission.
Mr. Mahon subsequently applied for the 44-unit apartment project which was also shot down by city planners. He appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála which ruled against him yesterday.
The community’s campaign to save the green prompted city councilors to amend the city development plan around this time last year to protect all open green spaces in the city from development.

By Mary O’Keefe

Cork City Council has refused a planning application to develop 44 residential units on a site at Bishopscourt Green.

A total of 161 submissions had been made to the local authority objecting to the proposed development while the lower Bishopscourt Residents Group, Communities for Sustainable Development (CSD) and a number of local politicians had been very vocal in outlining why they believed the development should not go ahead.

Yesterday, Mick Murphy, Spokesperson for CSD welcomed the news that the City Council had refused the application. “I’m delighted that the city planners refused this application. To be honest CSD always thought it would be refused because it was such an outrageous application. I’m very pleased it did not get the go ahead.

Cork Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer also welcomed the news. “I welcome the decision by the council to refuse planning and preserve the integrity of this site. I would appeal to the developer to abandon his plans for this site which is one of the few green spaces in this area,” he said.

Concluding Senator Buttimer added, “I’m sure this case will go onto An Bord Pleanala and I just hope that they see its a ludicrous proposal that will do nothing to benefit the local community.”

by Eoin English of the Irish Examiner

A DEVELOPER’S controversial plan to build apartments on a suburban green have been shot down for the second time this year.

Planners in Cork City Council yesterday refused to grant outline planning permission to developer Ken Mahon for his 44-apartment and underground car park scheme on Bishopscourt Green in Bishopstown.

Residents in the estate, who have been fighting for almost a year to save the green from development, welcomed the decision.

But Mr Mahon confirmed last night he is planning to lodge an appeal with An Bord Pleanála.

Mr Mahon acquired the 1.6-acre site — which has been used as a public amenity since the estate was developed in the 1960s — as part of a house sale last year.

Title to the house, which is located on the edge of the site, included title to the green.

Despite the fact that the land was used by local residents as public open space, it remained in private ownership.

Mr Mahon insists that it is zoned residential in colour coded maps in the city development plan.

The developer said he sought access to all files relating to the planning history of the site before deciding to purchase the house and green last year.

He was reportedly told by city officials, at the time, that those files were missing.

In the absence of those files, he proceeded to buy the site and applied to build four houses.

But planners ruled in January that the proposed development site is within an area designated as open space in the original planning application for Bishopscourt estate in 1965.

Mr Mahon said he was shocked to learn the files, he was told had been missing, had been used to argue the council’s case.

The planners also cited the city development plan which states there will be a presumption against development of public open spaces.

In their ruling yesterday, they said the location of the proposed development is within an area designated as open space in a previous planning permission by both the city and county councils at the time of the original estate was built.

They also cited a policy within the Cork City Development Plan which states that there will be a presumption against development of public open spaces.

As a result, they said the proposed development would contravene that policy and would seriously damage the amenities of the area and of property in the vicinity.

There were over 160 objections from local residents to the plan. Mr Mahon said he is not surprised at the decision.

“I feel the council has acted unfairly towards me. Have they rezoned my land or haven’t they?” he asked. “Constitutionally, they cannot rezone privately-owned land.”

Mr Mahon said the council has clearly rezoned parcels of land nearby from residential to public open amenity. But he insists that such a process has not happened to the Bishopscourt Green site which he says is still listed as residential in the city development plan. Residents have vowed to fight the appeal.

Neasan O’Shea was interviewed by Neil Prenderville. Ken Mahon declined to partake in the interview. According to Niall Prenderville Ken Mahon stated that he was only building four houses on the site. He made no disclosure regarding the new application for forty four apartments in two buildings. Instead he chose to focus on his four houses. An application for which was turned down last year. One can only wonder why Ken Mahon made no mention of his forty four apartments.

The interview can be listened to here:

96FM interview

An article from yesterday’s evening echo on the rally of the green.

Councillor Brian Bermingham appealed for Ken Mahon to withdraw his application to develop the Green.

Today’s Evening Echo has a story with details of the protest rally planned on Bishopscourt Green, this coming thursday at half past seven in the evening (7:30pm, 1930hrs.)

We would appeal to all supporters of our campaign to come along to this protest meeting. The “Keep Bishopscourt Green” Campaign needs your support!

The resident’s committee will be available to talk to anyone who wishes to lodge an objection to Ken Mahon’s planning application but is unsure of how to go about it.

We hope to see a large crowd there!

If you can’t make the meeting, you can support us by signing our petition or lodging a planning objection.

Eoin English has an article about Ken Mahon’s proposed development on Bishopscourt Green. Ken Mahon defends his current application stating that last year he only applied for four houses and that was turned down even though he was going to “gift” 60% of the Green to the Council. It is easy to make such philanthropic statements after your original application was turned down. Oral pledges are meaningless.

Ken Mahon states that his development will be an “anti-car” development. One can interpret this as meaning he wishes not to incur the expense of building an adequately sized underground car park.

The problem with “anti-car” developments is that in Ireland, where public transport is inadequate, people rely on their cars. Everyone knows that. Developers who rely on “transport links” to avoid building adequate car parking cause huge parking problems in surrounding areas. This problem has been seen time and time again in apartment developments throughout Ireland. Bishopscourt is already treated as a car park during office hours by people working in Bishopstown and Wilton. What will it be like if there is an apartment development with forty four households, many of which will have two, or three cars.

Ken Mahon states that he is “proud” of his plans. Proud to chop down trees. Proud to rid Bishopscourt of green space. Proud to develop with no consideration of scale or impact on surrounding houses.

Ken Mahon has said in an interview with the Evening Echo that his original application for a development of four houses was “not financially rewarding”.

This is an interesting perspective on what could be deemed to be financially rewarding. For some, who hold savings accounts in banks, interest rate returns of 5.5% CAR are financially rewarding.

If he knew to begin with that his need for financial rewards could not be met with development of four houses, we have to wonder why he went to all the trouble of making his first application. Why did he not just put his money into a bank account, rather than spending it on a derelict house at the top of a Green. A speculative house and land purchase, one where no planning permission to build anything existed. No one asked Ken Mahon to gamble that this land, maintained by the residents of Bishopscourt for over forty years, might be successfully built on. He chose to take that gamble.

What sort of financial return is he seeking? A 100% financial return, a 200% financial return? We will never know.

Justifying his application for a larger development, with the argument that his initial application was “not financially rewarding” contradicts what he wrote last year.

Ken Mahon told us last year that he would put the lands up for sale if his application was denied. Why has he changed his mind? He told us all last year of his affinity for the area. He told us the price was not as high as he expected. He told us that a small development would give him a “reasonable” return. Is he now seeking what some of us who are happy with interest rates offered by banks, would consider to be a “greedy” return?

This is what he wrote:

Eventually, I was invited to a private auction for the lands. I am a businessman, but I also feel an affinety for the area. I did not feel optimistic going into the auction,as I felt that the closing price would be such that only a major development would Justify the price. However, the lands became available at a price where I felt that a reasonable development could be carried out which would allow for a fair return for my endevour, and to allow for a considerable public open space.

However, I want to repeat that I only purchased the lands at a level that I felt comfortable with in relation to a reasonable development, and that if ultimatly if I am not successfull in the planning process, then I will offer the lands up for sale again.

Should Mr. Ken Mahon stick by his own word? He was unsuccessful in his planning application last year. Will he offer the lands up for sale again? That is what he said he would do, on this very website.

A new threat is looming over a city green which was saved from development earlier this year. Residents living around Bishopscourt Green in Cork’s western suburbs are now facing a fresh battle following a second planning application for the site. The same developer who failed earlier this year to get outline planning permission for four houses on the 1.6 acre site has now sought outline permission for 44 apartments and an underground car park on the same site.

Mr. Mahon bought the site last year as part of a house sale. Title to the house, located on the edge of the green, included title to the green which has been used as a public open space since the mid 1960s. He sought to develop four houses on the site which would have resulted in the loss of almost half the green.

Shocked local residents launched the Keep Bistopscourt Green Campaign. They lobbied local politicians and mounted high-profile events to raise public awareness about an issue they said could affect green spaces not just in Cork, but nationwide.

An unprecedented 95 submissions objecting to Mr. Mahon’s project were received.

Planners ruled in Jonuary that the location of the proposed development was within an area designated as an open space in the original planning application for Bishopscourt estate in 1965. Planners also said the city development plan states there will be a presumption against development of public open spaces.

The residents’ campaign prompted city councillors to amend the city development plan to protect all of the citys open green spaces from development.

However, a new planning notice has been erected on the green expressing Mr. Mahon’s intention to seek outline planinng permission for 44 apartments in two blocks and an underground car park.
A resident’s spokesman said they will fight this application again.

“While we have not seen the detail of this latest application, it would seem to be completely out of keeping with the character of the area” he said.

They are being supported by the lobby group Communities for Sustainable Development.

By Eoin English of the Irish Examiner.