Plans refused for offices at Tipperary student accommodation
Tipperary County Council has refused planning permission for two proposed office units at a student accommodation complex in Thurles.
Sean Purcell applied to the council for planning permission to build two new offices to the rear of his site on Mitchell Street in Thurles.
The site currently comprises four apartments used by students attending Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) in Thurles.
The council planner said that the development was acceptable in principle, given the mixed-use nature of Mitchell Street, but added that the proposal presented a number of concerns.
"The development will introduce a commercial use onto a physically restricted site under residential use in a manner that is not compatible with the established use of the site.
"The layout with the development in place is cramped with little remaining space for vehicular circulation and no compensatory proposals to address impacts arising from the loss of open space, circulation space, [and] refuse storage space,” the planner added.
The development, as presented, is “poorly considered and results in the overdevelopment of the site,” they said.
A number of objections were submitted to the council against the plans, with residents in the area saying that the planned offices would give inadequate parking facilities for the people living in the apartments, that the plans would mean the site would be overdeveloped, and that there wasn’t any information given by the applicant on what the offices would be used for.
In one objection, Conor Lyons said that traffic would be increased in the area if planning was to be granted.
"The lack of parking facilities will increase traffic congestion in and around the complex because of the inadequate parking facilities available to residents of the complex.
"The lack of sufficient parking facilities could force residents to park in private spaces belonging to neighbours and/or within the complex itself in areas not designated as parking, thereby obstructing the access thoroughfare to a neighboring property,” he added.
Mr Lyons also said that when the apartment complex was built, Mr Purcell applied for permission to have five apartments there, which the council said would be excessive for the size of the site. He said that adding more uses to the site would also constitute an excessive development on the site.
"This proposed development will once again increase the building footprint on the site and it’s of my opinion, which is in line with the prior planner’s opinion also, that additional units, be they being residential or commercial, within the site is excessive,” he said.
"The application does not clearly state whether the proposed office development will be for commercial or personal business use,” Mr Lyons added.
Another objector, Esther Lyons said that Mr Purcell had tried to overdevelop the site on a number of occasions, and that he had been taken to court by the council for an unauthorised development on the site in the past.
"It was noted by the judge in this specific case, given the small space available to other residents in the area, retention permission ‘could not be looked on favourably’,” Ms Lyons said in her objection.
According to the council planner’s report, this unauthorised development was eventually removed following a court order granted in 2021.
In their decision to refuse permission for the office space, Tipperary County Council agreed with their planner and said that to add a commercial element to a residential site would be an intensification of use of the site.
"It is considered that the development for which permission is sought would negatively detract from the residential development that exists on the site, would negatively impact on the amenities enjoyed by the existing residents and would result in the haphazard overdevelopment of the site,” they said.