Developer Midsal Homes has been given the go ahead for a controversial apartment project in Sandyford, despite local objections over the height and location of the scheme.

An Bord Pleanála approved permission for the Glenina and Karuna sites near Sandyford Road, which will consist of 116 homes in four apartment blocks ranging in height up to five storeys, plus car and cycle parking spaces.

The permission was granted to Midsal Homes and the planning regulator outlined several reasons for its approval of the contentious project, including that it is in an area zoned for residential development and aligns with the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown development plan, plus the government’s wider housing supply strategy.

In granting planning permission for the Strategic Housing Development, the appeals board reduced the number of apartments by 15% from 137 to 116 “in the interests of residential and visual amenities.”

The reduction went beyond the recommendation by appeals board inspector Sarah Moran, who recommended eight fewer apartments, and is subject to several conditions, including that the developer must pay a contribution in lieu of providing public open space for the development.

The approval came despite objections from local residents, notably a 145-page report from BPS planning consultants, produced for the Concerned Residents of Coolkill, Sandyford Downs and Lamb’s Brook group.

Its concerns ranged from the fact that the CGI renderings of the development were “optimistic at best” to the visual impact on nearby properties, claiming the proposed development was “too tall for the site and ignores its context.”

The report also claimed the extra homes represented overdevelopment and are too far from the Sandyford Luas stop, making residents car-reliant.

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council had originally recommended refusal for the 137-unit scheme but said that it would grant planning permission to a reduced scale project if it addressed concerns over residential density, separation distances, car parking standards, and scale and massing.

The initial plan comprised four apartment blocks, with two rising to six storeys, but the appeals board ordered that the two six-storey blocks each be reduced by one storey.

Moran acknowledged that the development is still significantly higher than existing and approved developments locally.

“However, it is my view that the proposed scheme, which is located on zoned and serviced lands in an urban area, should be viewed in the changing context of the wider environs, which include high-density developments at various locations in the south-western fringe of Dublin,” Moran said.