Dublin Mid West TD Gino Kenny has called on the government to introduce stricter planning enforcement measures to tackle planning breaches. The comments were made following new revelations in relation to planning breaches at former Liffey Valley Fitness, now known as Larkfield House. In early 2019 it was reported that the owner had constructed a number of apartments on the site without planning permission. At the last Lucan/Palmerstown/North Clondalkin area committee a reply to a question from Cllr Madeleine Johansson revealed that the owner once again had sought retention for the additional units without rectifying prior breaches.
Gino Kenny TD commented: “The situation in former Liffey Valley Fitness has been ongoing for almost two years. As of yet the only enforcement measure has been a warning letter issued by the council in July 2019. It’s completely unacceptable that developers and land owners are allowed to breach planning regulations without any consequences. I’m calling on the government to introduce stricter planning enforcement measures to tackle the complete disregard by certain developers for planning regulations.”
Cllr Madeleine Johansson added: “There should be some regard to previous breaches of planning regulations by individuals when a new application is received. The owner of Larkfield House, Vincent Cosgrave, recently applied for planning permission on a site at Watery Lane in Clondalkin Village where the council has requested additional information. Any individual who has been in breach of planning regulation should automatically be rejected when seeking planning permission. There needs to be serious consequences for any developer/land owner who builds without permission.”
