Work starts on major residential scheme in Offaly

WORK has begun on a 102-unit residential development in Tullamore.

The foundations have been laid for houses on Daingean Road in the county town as part of the first phase of a scheme which will have a mix of houses and apartments on a 4.5ha site close to the Cappincur roundabout on the Tullamore bypass.

The project will comprise 62 houses and 40 apartments/duplexes. There will be detached, semi-detached and terraced houses ranging in size from two to four bedrooms, plus four separate three-storey buildings for the apartments.

There will also be a creche and 173 surface car parking spaces.

The scheme got the go-ahead from An Bord Pleanala in October, 2023.

The Daingean Road Residents’ Association had objected to the plan on a number of grounds, including flood risk and the presence of alluvium deposits on the northern part of the site.

The residents said there was a risk that flooding on the Daingean Road would isolate the proposed development from the town and said the site was surrounded by flood risk zones.

The developer said alluvial soils do not render a site unsuitable for development and pointed out that the site is not in a flood risk zone.

Furthermore, the developers said the site would not be isolated by flooding elsewhere on the Daingean Road because there would still be access to the town along the N52 ring road.

The An Bord Pleanala inspector agreed with the developer, saying there was nothing unusual about the presence of alluvial soils on development sites.

In relation to flooding, the inspector confirmed that a justification test was not required for the site.

The inspector also said the development's inclusion of detached houses along the Daingean Road will “provide suitable frontage along that road while having due regard to the character of the existing housing along it”.

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Concerns about traffic impact were dismissed. The inspector said there were no grounds to conclude that traffic congestion in the area indicated the site should be not developed.

The project is being developed by the Kane Group, headed up by local businessman Seamus Kane. The applicant company was Daingean Road Residential Ltd.

The developers proposed the name 'Belton Manor' for the estate, recognising a pharmacist, Philip Belton, who they said assisted people affected by the famine.

Other suggested names were 'Glenbeg', after the home townland of Seamus Kane, and 'Boland Manor' or 'Boland Crescent', which were inspired by the nearby Boland's Lockhouse on the Grand Canal.