ac1976
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OUCH!!!
Dublin City Council criticised over decisions
Thursday, 13 August 2009 12:40
An Taisce has said there should be resignations in Dublin City Council after An Bord Pleanála again criticised council permission for high-rise development.The board have indicated to Chartered Land that it will reject its plan for the Cartlon site on O’Connell Street involving a 13-storey building topped by a sloping park.
In a Section 132 notice sent to the developers, they note that the plan was given permission by Dublin City Council even though it is in conflict with the council’s own Architectural Conservation Area designation.
Ian Lumley of An Taisce said this follows the board’s overturning of Sean Dunne’s Ballsbridge development scheme, which was given permission by the council even though it too was in conflict with its own development plan.
Welcoming the board’s observations in respect of the Carlton site, Mr Lumley said it was ‘a total slap in the face for Dublin City Council, it should be resigning time for senior management and planning’.
A spokesman for Dublin City Council said they will not be commenting in any way.
A spokesman for Chartered Land said the company will be considering the board’s request for a redesign.
It is understood it will be at least two months before revised plans will be ready for a decision by An Bord Pleanála.
@OisinT wrote:
wait… what’s wrong with having a restaurant at the top again? I’d eat there.
Well there’s nothing wrong with having a restaurant at the top, but it would be good to have some at ground level so they can interact with the street, as opposed to just having display windows at ground level and forcing you to go all the way through the shopping center to get to the restaurant.
They have dona a good job of this at Dundrum by the lake where there are numerous restaurants and terraces.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0813/1224252500702.html
“Despite having been granted permission from Dublin City Council, the board notes that the development is in conflict with several of the council’s statutory plans including the Architectural Conservation Area designation. The proposed scheme would disrupt the historic street pattern and was “over-scaled” in relation to the historic buildings around it.”It does bring up the question of how the council can grant permission despite it conflicting with the statutary area plans that it is also responsable for.
Perhaps these area plans need to be amended to allow for better innovation of design as long as it is beneficial to the identity and culture of the city!Anyway the Architectural Conservation Area designation of O’connell street hasn’t rescued it from crappy shops and shitty shop fronts. Only innovative design can do this now.
Even the delapadated grandeur the street had up until 2000 is gone and the original buildings now even look out of place there.Does anyone have a link to ABP’s letter?
I assume they rejected the park in the sky because it looked silly and was inaccesable being in the sky, Parks are usually at ground level.
I think there were also objections that the restaurants were at the top levles of the development aswell and hopefully ABP have rejected on these grounds.It would be great to see this go ahead with some rivisions addressing these and the other issues brought up in the process.
@rumpelstiltskin wrote:
Because it’s literally packed with historical buildings of national, even international, importance that you barely notice because of its tiny broken up pavements and ridiculous amounts of traffic – as well as a lot of the shopfronts and facades being uncared for. The whole street smells of neglect.
I actually think thats all part of the charm and character of the street which makes it unique. But it certainly could benefit from some improvements as long as the character is not destroyed as they (DCC) did with the entrance to Dublin Castle, they should be ashamed of that mess.
Dame street always reminded me of typical Manhattan streets with the intresting collection of shop fronts and heavy traffic, it would be a shame to steralise these natural features from the street.@rumpelstiltskin wrote:
I wasn’t being harsh on the Royal Mile. I love it. I’m saying that Dublin city council could learn a lot from it when regenerating Dame Street.
Why would the regenerate Dame St? It’s probably the most lively street the city has!
They will only make a mess of what has naturally become our real main street if the stary interfering with it.Hi Graham, I thought you were a northsider!
But anyway, you make very good and interesting points but I am wondering…
you describe the ridiculous unpleasantness of travelling to and around Smithfield (on foot) and its a great point, however, why would you want to travel there in the first place?
To buy some bananas?…. I think not.
I mean even if it was pedestrian friendly and well connected what reason would anyone have to travel there? There is no draw..unless you are seeking drug or alcohol dependance treatment, a drivers license, a fight or a day in court.@kefu wrote:
Am doing an article for this week’s Tribune about Smithfield: its success or failures. If anybody has any thoughts in particular they want aired, you can pm me or post here.
I will look forward to reading your article.
I think it will be interesting to know what people think sucess to be!Clearly the Developers and the Council had some vision of sucess, but even if they had achieved what they wanted (the developers mostly have) is that really sucess?
I actually think that the whole problem with Smithfield is that the visions (and there are more than one) for the development of the area are flawed. Not just because the Council and Developers have diverging interests, but because the plans never really contained anything in them that would achieve what residents and dubliners would concider sucess.
As a Dubliner I think Smithfield is a wasteland, I don’t want to live there, and the only reason I ever go there is to go to the Lighthouse Cinema, and secretly I am hoping that the Cinema either moves or a rival opens up in either a village in the city or the city center itself.
I would like to see Smithfield as a sucessful urban village but to achieve that you need an authority similar to the DDDA with a clear focus, they have achieved great things in the docklands even if the vision is a bit sterile.
The Street sinage in Dublin City Center is probably worthy of its own discussion thread.
For my 2 cents I think we should have much more appealing sinage, similar to the signs in Chapelizod.
I cant find an example of this but there are many different styles in use around dublinThey are mostly pretty ugly…
[ATTACH]9643[/ATTACH][ATTACH]9644[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]9645[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]9646[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]9647[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]9648[/ATTACH]
Ok that one was a joke, but the next style used for the GPO would be look perfect at either end of the street:
[ATTACH]9649[/ATTACH]how come there are no stations west of the City, at Phoenix Park or IMMA/Kilmainham Jail/Heuston?
That is kinda crazy, they are perfect locations for the bikes.
Is there even one near the Guiness Storehouse?From DCC website:
Dublin City Council are delighted to announce a new and exciting selection of outdoor markets in city centre locations the first of which is the Friday market at Smithfield.
Located in an attractive tree lined area close to the Luas line the market offers a fine selection of foods with an international flavour as well as jewellery and beauty products. There is also a seated picnic area.Hours of business: Friday 11.00am-6.00pm
there is also another indoor market on Sundays:
http://www.irishfarmersmarkets.ie/smithfield.html@GregF wrote:
I suppose folks living there in the new appartments are crippled with mortgages or rent and are only going from bed to work.
This is definitely not the case, these apartments were all Section 23, and only suitable for developers. All the occupants are tennants. Perhaps more owner occupied designed units would benefit the area in future.
The main reson people rent here is bacause the area is beside the city center, and so they dont go from work to bed to work. They spend more time in the city centre as a result.@GregF wrote:
I dunno how the Council and local business folk cant initiate something to attract folk out of their appartments/cells. The Ice Skating and Chinese New Year festival are the sort of thing to give the place a lift. How about live open air music, jigs and reels etc… in conjunction with the Cobblestone could be a weekly feature….bring back the market but make it like the one in Temple Bar, with an international flavour as well. Hang up flags and buntings.
All of these things have been tried and happen all the time, including the buntings. Perhaps you didn’t know because nobody attents the events?
There are food markets and international markets on here all the time, but only ppl that live in Smithfield or pass through are aware of this.
A marketing campaign may be needed similar to the way the Docklands Authority markets that area.The whole area needs to be rebranded and marketed properly. The council should be empowered to do this like the DDDA.
http://www.dublincity.ie/SiteCollectionDocuments/markets_area_framework_plan.pdf
The plan is for an indoor public market, and the Stallholders of the Temple Bar market have already been consulted about this and expressed a willingness to move to Smithfield once the market is available.
I prefer DCC’s plan, in the mean time Smithfield square IS ALREADY available to artisan stallholders fruit&veg alike but it seems the stallholders are not interested. Wonder why!?
@Devin wrote:
Speaking of ghost towns, have you seen what a ghost town Mayor Street / IFSC extension has become while Luas is being put in? Most businesses have decided to shut up and it’s gone sooo quiet.
I think the IFSC/Mayor Street qualifies more as a wasteland, to be a ghost town would suggest it was once a town.
I agree with Stephen, sounds more like DCC are sitting on their hands.
Surely the Development Framework plan which falls under Central Government Legislation can be used to move this horse market if they do desire.Most of the retail units were never occupied in the first place so the shopfronts to the square have been empty for years now, except a few which are struggling to survive.
There is a whole DCC Markets Area Development Plan, I dont think the area will reach it’s potential until this plan takes affect. But this doesn’t mean the retail shouldn’t have been built, course it should.
The buildings along the SCR look great, before this was built all you could see here was a big stone wall with barbed wire on top and a watchtower, looked like a prison.
It now looks fantastic.What’s with the ‘light rods’, and why are the popping up all over the place, they look cheap and tacky and dont fit in with the rest of the materials, I think they probably look better on plans than in real life.
can we have an appeal to ban them?
