Fingal County Council has refused planning retention to private bus operator Eirebus for modular accommodation units for employees at its transport depot at Corduff Rd in Dublin 15.
The council has refused a three-year planning retention to Eirebus Ltd for 19 modular accommodation and six mobile home units after finding that the units’ layout and arrangement “represent a serious form of substandard residential living”.
The retention application also includes a communal kitchen, three WC units and two shower/toilet units.
Council planners also refused planning retention after concluding that the nature of the worker residential accommodation sought for retention, due to its incompatibility with the zoning and existing surrounding land uses “results in the unsustainable and uneconomical use of the subject site”.
RM Block
The council also said that the proposal would set an inappropriate precedent for other similar forms of development.
The planning authority also concluded that the modular and mobile home units serving as worker accommodation, by virtue of their design and appearance “represent a form of ad hoc, haphazard development of a poor-quality aesthetic which adversely impacts the visual amenity of the receiving environment”.
A planning report lodged with the application by CWPA Planning and Architecture explained that the purpose of the retention application “is to support the ongoing operation of the existing employment use by providing essential staff welfare and accommodation facilities for operational personnel”.
The CWPA report confirmed that the company employs 92 workers with 68 of the workforce being non-nationals
The report said that 43 employees required accommodation.
It said that the application “represents a pragmatic response to operational, regulatory and housing market challenges while delivering wider economic, social and transport benefits to the community”.
The report also said that permission was being sought for a period of three years only, “reflecting the operational and accommodation challenges currently facing the transport sector and allowing Eirebus sufficient time to address longer-term workforce accommodation requirements”.
The planning application faced one objection from Richard Doyle of Clancy Quay, Islandbridge, Dublin 15.
Doyle told the council that “the toilet and shower facilities are separate to the Modular housing units – this means that scantily dressed people can be seen traversing between the two at all times, this offers no privacy to the people staying in the accommodation and is unsightly for the neighbouring businesses”.
Doyle said that “the fact that the development has already been constructed does not create any entitlement to retention”.
The D15 resident asked: “Would it not be a more reasonable, rational and sustainable solution for one of the largest bus companies in the State to use one of their mini buses to provide a private shuttle service for their local workers as needed?”
