Edenderry housing project refused permission

Plans for a 48-unit residential development in Edenderry town have been knocked back by Offaly County Council.

PMB Construction Ltd had sought permission for a residential development of 48 units, comprising 26 one-bed apartments, 13 two-bed apartments, and nine three-bed terraced houses.

The site for the proposed development was to be located to the north west of Main Street to the south of Edenderry shopping centre at Downshire Road and to the north of St Francis Street, at Downshire Drive.

In refusing planning permission, Offaly County Council said the land is zoned Enterprise and Employment in the Edenderry Local Area Plan and residential use is not normally permitted in such a zoning. As a result, the project would materially contravene the zoning objectives of the Edenderry Local Area Plan.

It further ruled that the proposed development would provide greater population growth for Edenderry than assigned to the town in the Offaly County Development Plan. It also said that it considered the proposal to be substandard in terms of layout with overdominance of access road and car parking and that it failed to “establish a strong sense of identity or a sense of place”.