Tuesday, February 18, 2025

€1.2m for Mullingar ‘phantom estate’

By Ronan Casey
A Mullingar housing estate which was never built has just been put on the market by Dublin auctioneering firm, Savills, with a guide price of €1.2 million.
The 14 acre Ardmore Road estate was to feature 128 houses, but no work was ever completed on the site. Whoever buys the site will effectively be buying housing sites for just €9,375 each.
The phantom estate was proposed at the dangerously narrow Saunders Bridge, Ardmore Road, Mullingar, on land adjacent to the unfinished C&F Development housing estate ‘Royal Canal’. The estate also straddles the banks of the actual Royal Canal.
Originally refused planning permission by Westmeath County Council in 2011, the canal-side estate at Saunders Bridge was appealed to An Bord Pleanála in 2012 by its developers C&F Developments – architect Patrick Coughlan and businessman Patrick Fagan. They had bought the site from the Taggart group, a Northern Irish construction and development company. They also had an interest in the adjacent ‘Royal Canal’ development.
Marketed by Savills as being a “prime development opportunity”, the residential site is 5.87 hectares (14.5 acres) with a further 0.23 hectares (0.5 acres) earmarked for a creche – the third such new creche proposed for the Ardmore Road in recent months. A section to the front of the unfinished ‘Royal Canal’ estate is included in the sale.
ORIGINALLY REFUSED PLANNING
The prominent, elevated field has full planning permission for 121 houses and seven apartments. As per its October 2012 planning permission, the housing units of two and three storeys will straddle and overlook the canal. The proximity to the canal and high nature caused controversy when the plans were originally mooted in 2011, with local residents on both sides of the canal objecting.
The estate’s protrusion onto the canal bank was one of the reasons the Council’s planners rejected the estate in the first place.
The Council called the proposed estate “a substandard form of development” with a poor site layout, mix of unit types, poor design form and dominance of the road network. They said it would adversely impact upon the character and setting of the Royal Canal, meant to be a Natural Heritage Area.
The Council’s planners also noted poor environmental quality in terms of amenities for residents.
,,An Taisce were also damning, saying the estate was based on an outmoded suburban housing estate model, was “entirely lacking” in community facilities with “no provision being made for social integration” of its new residents “within the development or with the surrounding area.”
APPEALLED
It was then appealed to An Bord Pleanála, and its inspector, Fiona Fair, agreed with the Council, saying the estate should be refused planning permission as it was a “cramped layout”, “inflexible building design” (i.e. not homes for life), and its “substandard and poorly designed private open space” as well as high walls etc. would “be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”
Her damning report was then overturned by An Bord Pleanála with Board member Nicholas Mulcahy signing off on permission on October 24, 2012.
In all, there is planning for nine five-bedroomed detached houses, five four bedroomed detached houses, 13 five-bedroom semi-detached houses, 51 four-bedroomed semi-detached houses, 38 three-bedroom semi-detached houses, five three-bedroom duplexes and seven two-bed apartments.
Auctioneer Savills do not mention the controversial planning history at all, saying the canal border “adds a nice dimension to the site and (is) one that will catch the eye of the more astute developer.”

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