Housing scheme planned for Offaly town

A HOUSING scheme is being planned for Ferbane by a developer who was refused consent on the same site in 2023.

Droughill Builders Ltd is seeking permission to build 22 houses adjoining Mill Race off the N62 road in the west Offaly town, close to the Brosna river.

There will be a mix of semi-detached and terraced two-storey house types in the development, which will be on a one-hectare site.

A design statement with the application says: “The development of this site will provide a new infill development, add to and improve the existing streetscape.”

What the applicants say are “high quality” two, three and four-bed dwellings are promised, with two public open space areas. Seventeen of the units are proposed to be three-beds.

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Previously, 25 houses were planned for the site but Offaly County Council turned the proposal down because it would have an “overbearing impact on the neighbouring residents” and would result in a “reduction in private dute to the stated finish floor levels” of the new houses.

Council planners also said there wasn't enough detail about fill material which would be needed to “achieve the stated finish floor levels” and another ground for refusal was the “proposed sloping nature of the private open space”.

Droughill Builders Ltd is a Portarlington-based company whose director is Trevor Whelan.

A decision from the planning authority is due on May 2 next.