PROPOSALS for over 500 homes in Castletroy, which were described by one resident as “shoving as many shoe boxes as possible” onto the land, has been given the green light.
Columbia Estates Management (IE) applied for planning to Limerick City and County Council for a 10-year permission to develop 523 homes.Â
The large-scale residential development includes 214 two and three-storey residential dwellings consisting of 204 three-bed units and 10 two-bed units.
Plans also include 309 apartments consisting of 159 one-bed, 141 two-bed, and nine three-bed units to be provided within 10 apartment buildings.
Once completed, the development could house up to 1,967 people.
However not all residents are happy with the proposed plans described by one objector as being on “one of the most prestigious sites in the region”, further claiming that the development shows “no imagination”.
“Limerick is a redeveloping city with a whole new town centre envisioned, are we going to allow the city to be surrounded by the same old claptrap 1950/60s slum clearance designs. After all this area is called ‘Newtown’,” they hit out.
They added: “Overall, this is a ‘POTBOILER’ plan by the developer and should be rejected out of hand by planning authorities in the interest of the city as a whole.”Â
A joint application made on behalf of a group of residents on the Monaleen Road also raised their concerns, but stressed that residents “do not oppose residential development on these lands in principle”, adding that “there is a full realisation that the site is zoned for residential use under the Limerick City and County and County Development Plan 2022-2028, and the need for housing delivery in the Castletroy area is acknowledged”.
Their concerns included the scale, density, height, and increased population proposed under the plans, and the capacity to carry this out in a safe, sustainable and coordinated manner.
It will also “exacerbate the already overburdened traffic infrastructure in the vicinity of the Monaleen Road and Dublin Road Junction”, according to another objector.Â
A crèche on the ground floor and an outdoor play space along with bin and bicycle storage are also included among the plans.
The planning notice also mentions the provision of associated car parking at surface level via a combination of cartilage parking for dwellings and via on street parking for the creche and apartments.
A basement for apartment blocks six to nine will incorporate parking, a plant area, storage rooms and bicycle storage.
A second development highlighted in a separate planning notice by Clonshire Construction Limited is seeking a seven-year planning permission for 212 residential units nearby at Towlertown, Ballysimon.
The proposed development comprises 102 two and three-storey houses including eight two-bed, 60 three-bed two-storey houses, 34 four-bedroom houses.
Six three-storey apartment blocks with 100 units are also being proposed with 49 one-bed, 51 two-beds and five three-storey duplex units also on the application.
 A crèche for the area is also being proposed and two separate junctions serving the site to the north and south from the recently constructed Towlerton Distributor Road.