Irishplanningnews.ie

Now that the Dublin Docklands Development Authority has been disbanded the batton falls to Dublin City Council to plan for the future of the 66 hectare, which includes the Grand Canal Dock area on the south side of the river and North Lotts on the north side.

The City Council have opted for a Strategic Development Zone or SDZ as it is known in planning circles. An SDZ is a planning process which seeks to get overall approval for a plan first and then grant permission for subsequent applications which are deemed consistent with the Plan.  This is not all that different from the previous system which operated under the DDDA régime. The key feature of the SDZ process is that it is meant to be a fast-track development process and therefore there is no opportunity for appealing individual applications to An Bord Pleanala.

However, the entire SDZ itself can be appealed to An Bord Pleanala over the next 4 week period and this is highly likely based on other SDZs that have been prepared in Dublin City and other councils.  Most of these schemes have been approved by the Board but they recently refused one scheme in Cork (Monard) outright; the first time that this has happened.  Therefore nothing is set in stone as of yet.

The main feature of the Docklands SDZ is that it departs from the height restriction imposed on the rest of the city.  It will allow for buildings up to 22 storeys in particular areas such as Point Square and Britain Quay.

The Strategic Development Zone adopted for Cherrywood at the end of the Green Luas line in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown excludes the possibility of retail warehousing. The net effect is that Ikea will not be able to locate at this location as its stands.  The have appealed the content of the SDZ to An Bord Pleanala along with a number of other appellants including NAMA.