LEIXLIP, 22 October: by Trish Whelan. Deputy Emmet Stagg has lodged a strong objection to what he terms the Barracks-like structure planned by a developer on Captain’s Hill in Leixlip.
He said it would ‘destroy Leixlip Village Centre’.
“Leixlip Village Centre has improved in the past number of years with the Town Improvement Works but this proposal if allowed proceed, would wreck this progress,” he stated.
He said the developer, Bernie Cooke, is seeking to create ‘a monstrous structure in Leixlip and is using the provision of car parking spaces as a sweetner’. He said this is simply unacceptable and Kildare County Council should continue to work on the provision of additional car parking at this location in line with the Leixlip Car Parking Study.
He said the propoposed height of the building is completely inappropriate and would dominate the skyline of the Leixlip Village Area, and would be incompatible with other buildings in the core of the Village. He said if successful, it would set a precedent for others to seek buildings of a similar height, and this would fundamentally change the character of the Village centre.
“As you enter Leixlip from the Liffey Bridge, you see an attractive Tree Line. This proposal would eliminate this pleasant backdrop and leave in its place what amounts to be a building which has all the appearance of a Barracks.
Other reasons for his objection include traffic, and that it would adversely affect the residents of Riverdale Estate, established 25 years ago, making it less secure following the opening of the proposed new exit north of Leixlip House. The proposed 8-storey building will be adjacent to, and will overshadow, a number of houses in this estate.
He said a previous application for three houses on this site with an exit onto Captain’s Hill was turned down by Kildare County Council on traffic grounds. “Since then the traffic on this route has considerably increased and is augmented by HGVs using the route as a ‘rat run’ to avoid the toll bridge on the M50. He also said the proposal would require the elimination of the on-street short-term car parking on both sides of Captain’s Hill and in front of neighbourhood shops, which would severely affect the potential for these businesses to trade successfully which he feared would leave the County Council open to compensation claims.
Deputy Stagg wants the developer to prove ownership of the site, or otherwise, of the area in question.
He concluded the proposal ‘is unacceptable given the impact it will have on Leixlip on a permanent basis and arising from the precedent it would create of allow high rise development in the town centre.
“A further extension of time has been granted in relation to this application until November 22 and I call on Kildare County Council to reject this application forcefully,” he added.
Meanwhile, in a letter to the Planning Department of Kildare County Council, local resident John Colgan says he supports the project, from which ‘Leixlip village could benefit enormously’ both by the presence of more residents and more car parking places.
“A terraced development down to the Liffey on the north side of the Main street is a commendable use of the terrain, and not out of keeping with developments in similar locations elsewhere,” he says, recommending approval subject to conditions.
These include the height of the finished structure not being allowed to exceed that of the height of the houses abutting in Riverdale, that the appearance of the proposed structure as seen from the village street be made to conform with the traditional practices, that the plans should not involve the removal of the carparking outside the Tuthill's premises and that KCC condition the car parking charges to be compatible with those which the local authority shall make form time to time.
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