Bord Pleanála green light for Kinnegad retirement village
An Bord Pleanála has granted permission for a retirement village and residential care home at Kinnegad. The development, earmarked for a 4.51 hectare site at Mullingar Road, had been refused planning permission by Westmeath County Council.
The site is positioned beyond the junction of the Mullingar Road with the Killucan Road, on the north side of the Mullingar Road, about 1km from the town centre.
The proposal is that the care home, a two-storey building measuring 6,279 sq m, should accommodate 108 beds. There are also to be 30 one-bed and 15 two-bed single-storey independent living units and a community hall of 195 sq m; a new junction and access road, 128 car parking spaces and 35 cycle parking spaces.
In addition, an existing cottage building on the site is to be extended.
Behind the proposal is Gerry Maguire, c/o The Planning Partnership, The Bank Building, Oliver Plunkett Street in Mullingar.
Overturning the council decision, An Bord Pleanála said it was granting permission for the complex, as the development would constitute an acceptable scale and design of development, would comply with the Westmeath County Development Plan 2021-2027 objectives regarding the ageing population, would be acceptable in terms of pedestrian and traffic safety, and would not seriously injure the visual and residential amenities of the area.
The county council’s refusal of planning permission was on the grounds that the proposed nursing home element, "by virtue of its design, scale and form" would inhibit the integration of the development with the adjoining built form; that it would substantially detract from the residential amenities for adjoining residential amenities to the east of the site, and that it would depreciate the value of property in the vicinity.
The inspector, in her comments, stated that it was clear that the planning authority aims to encourage housing and facilities for the ageing population in Kinnegad, because there are no existing facilities to cater for the town in the long term.
"Although the lands are unzoned, I have examined the zoned lands in the town centre, and I am unsure if the scale of the current proposal with the amount of open space areas, could be accommodated on the appropriately zoned lands in the Kinnegad Settlement Plans."