Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, has claimed that the recent revised planning application submitted by Suntec Developments Ltd in place of its original application for 81 apartments on the Herbert Rd in Bray represents an ‘improvement’.

De Burca made her comments in response to information from an Bord Pleanala which included a ‘revised proposal’ submitted by Suntec. “The revised proposal involves developing a total of 48 residential units instead of 81” she says. “This reduces the overall scale, bulk and density of the development. This proposal also increases the public open space throughout the scheme which will now make up approximately 54% of the overall site area”.

The Green Party councillor says that the blocks in the revised planning proposal are 2/3 storeys in height. She says that this is a reduction from an upper building height of 4 storeys in the original submission. She points out that the overall layout of the scheme increases the distance of the apartment blocks from the nearby premises bounding the site.

“The three Green Party councillors on Bray Town Council have put a lot of time into appealing the original planning application for the 81 apartments on the Herbert Rd” says de Burca. “We objected to Bray Town Council and then appealed the council’s decision to an Bord Pleanala. It is encouraging to see this scaled down proposal being submitted by the developer as a result of the objections lodged by local resident’s groups and by the Green Party”.

However, de Burca says that the Greens are still concerned about the traffic impact of the proposed development. “The revised proposal mentions providing a total of 98 car-parking spaces” she says. “This will mean 98 extra cars exiting out onto the Herbert Rd. Furthermore, there is no public transport available so residents will be completely dependent on their cars”. De Burca says that the overall design of the development is still very unattractive and she is critical of the fact that the revised application does not include a crèche.

“While the revised proposal is an improvement on the original application, the Green Party remains very concerned about some aspects of it” she says. “The final decision now rests with an Bord Pleanala which will have to take all the factors into consideration before granting or refusing the revised application”.