Decision due on divisive Kilkenny apartment block in September
Permission is being sought for the development of 24 apartments, private open space amenity and car parking at a site on O’Loughlin Road, Kilkenny City
The decision from Kilkenny County Council to grant permission for a new apartment block in Kilkenny City (subject to conditions) has been appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
Applicant Michael Joseph McGuinness lodged plans back in August of last year to Kilkenny County Council seeking permission for the development of 24 apartments, private open space amenity and car parking at a site on O’Loughlin Road.
The proposed works include the demolition of an existing warehouse, shed and yard slabs, certain boundary walls as well as alterations to walls retained with ‘existing buildings on the frontage of O’Loughlin Road’ unaffected.
The building is to include three floors of residential accommodation over a ground floor entrance hall/stair and lift well, waste management room, services accommodation and car park.
Further information/amendments were requested by the planning authority on certain elements of the plans and subsequently responded to by the applicant.
Amongst those objecting to the original application was city councillor Eugene McGuinness, who described the proposed building in his submission to the local authority as being akin to ‘very imposing large block of Lego dominating the skyline’.
Mr McGuinness is one of a number of third party appellants listed by An Coimisiún Pleanála who have appealed the local authority’s decision to grant permission.
A separate planning application to develop the site before this most recent application also made its way to An Coimisiún Pleanála in recent years but the national planning body refused permission.
Cllr McGuinness contends that “this redesign retains the same industrial complex look similar to the first application which prioritises financial return over proper design suitable to fit into an estate built in 1952.”
The planning and design statement for the new development references the previous application, acknowledging that An Coimisiún Pleanála “considered that the proposed development, by reason of its height, scale, massing and density at this prominent site, on O’Loughlin Road adjacent to two areas of open space and established two-storey dwellings, would constitute an overdevelopment of the site and seriously injure the amenities of the area and of property in the vicinity.”
The planning and design statement then comments that the reduced proposal for 24 dwellings on 0.24 hectares is within the density band permitted under the ‘Sustainable Residential Development and Compact Settlements Guidelines for Planning Authorities’.
That report also noted: “We have reduced the height and incorporated the 4th floor into the roof as suggested in Kilkenny County Council’s Planner’s Report.”
It further adds that “the proposed development consists of apartments only” and that this “is in response to the current need and demand for apartments in Kilkenny.”
Another third party appeal objecting to the proposed development in the name of ‘Clare Meehan & Kieran Mc Cardle & Others’ raises a number of issues.
Their grounds for appeal state that the development ‘constitutes overdevelopment of the site’, ‘would give rise to serious traffic and road safety concerns’, ‘would adversely impact the residential amenity of adjoining properties’ and ‘fails to provide an acceptable standard of residential accommodation’.
A decision is due from An Coimisiún Pleanála in relation to this case by September 22, 2026.