An Bord Pleanála to decide on Dundalk apartment development

The decision by Louth County Council to refuse planning permission for 18 new apartments at The Laurels in Dundalk has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

STFA Limited applied last June for planning permission for a development on lands at the junction of The Laurels Road and Patrick Street. The proposed development comprises 18 apartment in a three storey building of which there are 10, one-bed apartments; six, two-bed apartments; and one, three-bed apartment; along with associated residential communal spaces at ground level. 

The planning application also provided for items including the provision of bin and bicycle storage at ground level, boundary treatments, external landscaping, and associated works to the footpath.

Louth County Council made the decision to refuse planning permission on 7 January. In its decision it said that “the design of the subject apartments is considered to be substandard having regard to 'Design Standards for New Apartments – Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2023)' and specifically substandard in terms of the failure to provide functional private amenity space for the ground floor units, communal amenity space that is accessible to all residential units, an absence of storage provision for bulky goods and inadequate provision for adequate and convenient bin and bicycle storage for all residential units."

An appeal against the decision to refuse planning permission was lodged with An Bord Pleanála by STFA Limited on 29 January 2025. The case is to be decided upon by 3 June 2025.