Controversial plans for a €75m "mammoth development" including a retail park and apartments at Carrickmines have been given the green light.
The thumbs up from Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council comes despite warnings from Transport Infrastructure Ireland that the build will have a negative impact on M50 traffic.
The Irish Times reports that Iput - one of the county’s biggest property funds - has secured permission from the local authority for a 83,996 sqm mall at ‘the Park’ retail complex bordering Junction 15 of the m50 near Ballyogan Road.
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The project - which will sit alongside the existing Park shopping precinct - will include shops, cafes, restaurants, and retail warehouses as well as 130 apartments.
There are also plans for leisure facilities including an indoor skydiving arena, the paper adds.
TII made a submission to the council last April warning that the development would have an “adverse effect on the operation, safety and efficiency of the M50".
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And another State transport agency - the National Transport Authority - also raised concerns over traffic, saying the proposed build which included around 1,150 parking spaces, was "excessive" for the area.
The NTA said that a reduction in the number of parking spaces should be a stated condition in any subsequent decision to grand planning permission.
Following TII’s submission, the council had asked the developers to make revisions to the plans but in November, the agency again wrote to the DLR saying that it was “not convinced” that its concerns had been addressed.
However, the council praised the “high quality of the scheme’s overall design concept” and welcomed the fact that housing was included in the proposal.
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The local authority had attached more than 30 conditions when granting permission for the build, including a reduction in car spaces and construction of a new link road.
Local Fianna Fail election candidate Olivia Buckley said she would be appealing the council’s decision to OK the “ mammoth development” to An Bord Pleanala.
She said: "The traffic impact will be huge, clogging up the local and national road network.
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"The M50 junctions are already bursting with high levels of existing traffic.”
Ms Buckley - a one-time spokesperson for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern - also said that south Dublin had no need for additional retail development.
"It is homes for families, young adults, locals, critical workers and older people who want local downsize options, that are needed."
