O'Callaghans Cork hospital hits the buffers

thesource

It looks Owen O'Callaghan's proposed hospital on Lancaster Quay has hit the buffers as there have been two submissions to An Bord Pleanalla about it last Thursday.

Details are on this link http://bit.ly/2IBhzG, they include one by the Mercy Hospital, which has been submitted a Graham O'Reilly who is an employee there and includes 51 signatures of staff of opposed the planning applications.

Planning consultants say that decisions at An Bord level are taking 10 months to a year to decide.

Such a delay is a major blow at anytime but it is particularly severe in the current market. They will not be able to fund raise without a planning permission and things can change drastically in a year's time anyone who was interested in funding it now may not be around then.

That's assuming they get any planng approval from An Bord, which they clearly shouldn't and it is thankfully far from certain that they should in such an unsuited residential site that also damages the view of St Finbarres Cathedral and threatens the existence of the Mercy Hospital.

This one of the oldest areas of Cork and damaging the area and the views of a 150 year old cathedral for short term gain is clearly not in the interests of Cork or its citizens. It's also against Development Plan zoning which is intended to stop development of this sort from damaging the fabric of the city.

unwyse

harney will be sooooooooo dissapointed,thats one of her money before health schemes snookered tg:D

thesource

Yeah she certainly will. The co-location can't get funding and now this is tied down in An Bord Pleanalla level.

thesource

Here's a story on the problems for O'Callaghan Properties Cork hospital on Western Road, Cork. It appears on page 2 in the main section of the Irish Times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0814/1224252550325.html

Friday, August 14, 2009
Employee of Cork hospital opposes private facility nearby

by LOUISE ROSEINGRAVE

AN OBJECTION has been lodged against the development of a private hospital in Cork by an employee of a neighbouring public facility, the Mercy University Hospital (MUH.)

Graham O’Reilly, employed by the Health Service Executive as shop steward at the MUH, has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála against the development of the €80 million private hospital by Owen O’Callaghan at Lancaster Quay on the Western Road in Cork city centre.

The 100-bed, 140,000 sq ft hospital, to be built at Mr O’Callaghan’s Lancaster Quay hotel and apartment complex, was given the green light by Cork City Council planners last month despite 10 submissions lodged by objectors during the planning process.

Two appeals have been lodged with An Bord Pleanála against the development, one of which has been submitted by Mr O’Reilly.Some 51 signatures from staff and patients at MUH were collected and submitted to Cork City Council in support of Mr O’Reilly’s objection, which was based on arguments against the suitability of the location and the scale and height of the proposed private facility.

The private hospital, which is to be located within walking distance of the MUH, could contribute to traffic congestion that could potentially delay ambulance access to the MUH and as such represents a risk to public safety, according to Mr O’Reilly.

“Existing traffic congestion and the lack of a car park in the area would only be worsened by another hospital so close to the Mercy and could delay AE access,” Mr O’Reilly states in his objection, which was submitted to Cork City Council on June 30th.

Mr O’Reilly says the hospital, which replaces a block of apartments originally planned for the site, would result in a loss of views of a famous Cork landmark, St Finbarr’s Cathedral.

In June, Sheehan Medical announced plans to open a new €90 million private hospital in Mahon, on the eastern outskirts of the city, due to open next spring.

In his submission, Mr O’Reilly questions the need for Mr O’Callaghan’s private hospital, citing the Sheehan development and the close proximity of a planned co-located hospital at Cork University Hospital (CUH). He also claims that the private facilities could result in a two-tier health system.

The plans for the site were lodged in May, and Cork City Council gave the go-ahead for the project at the end of July.

However, conditions were attached to the plan, including a development contribution of close to €1 million.

A second and separate appeal to An Bord Pleanála has been lodged by appellant Kieran Vincent.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

lostinsuperfunk

That objection from Graham O'Reilly sounds a bit spurious to me, maybe politically motivated?

the lack of a car park in the area

Is he joking? There's a multi-storey almost next door to the site.

could contribute to traffic congestion that could potentially delay ambulance access to the MUH

They're not that close to each other, and layout of the traffic system in that area means they are served by different roads. I think ambulances coming to the Mercy would be unlikely to be affected. You could make the same of almost any development in the city centre. I presume that he also objected to the expansion of the Tyndall Institute across the road from the Mercy?

the hospital, which replaces a block of apartments originally planned for the site, would result in a loss of views of a famous Cork landmark, St Finbarr’s Cathedral.

He's certainly correct about this. I wonder did he object when the original apartment block was planned?

thesource

I agree some of the minor points are a bit spurious but the main objections solid. The development is clear a contravention of development plan policy, which zones that site for residential development. The plan allocates sites for medical expansion elsewhere on existing medical sites such as the Mercy Hospital.

The detrimental affect on St Finbarre's cathedral is also a very strong objection. When O'Callaghan's originally went for planning approval for the apartments they blocked a lot of view to St Finbarre's cathedral from across Western Road. An Bord Pleanalla very rightly pulled the end of the building back to protect this view.

Any sensible developer would have then sought to minimise the chance of appeal of new project by sticking to the line the ABP previously pulled back to, but O'Callaghan's ignored this and again tried to do what they pleased and block this view. When the City Council approved the proposal they pulled it back slightly as if they were trying to appease both ABP and O'Callaghan's, but what resulted was a fudge. Nothing irks me than developers thinking they can ignore a judegment made a government body like An Bord Pleanalla.

They have just tried to jump on the private hospital bandwagon because the residential market has gone tits up. They want to damage the setting of 150 year old cathedral for their short term gain. Once the resi market picks up they'll back into making tacky looking apartments again.

lostinsuperfunk

I'm in agreement on the planning contravention, I just think that the spurious arguments detract from the overall objection.

The developer's motto seems to be "if at first you don't succeed, then try, try again". O'Callaghan probably knows from experience (Mahon Point comes to mind) that he will eventually get his way. Cork City Council are just as bad for allowing themselves to be bought off by the development contribution.
Most of the view of St Finnbarre's from Western Road has been successfully blocked off by Jury's and Lancaster Gate so they're only trying to finish off what they've started.

ajsp.

lostinsuperfunk wrote: »

That objection from Graham O'Reilly sounds a bit spurious to me, maybe politically motivated?

Is he joking? There's a multi-storey almost next door to the site.


They're not that close to each other, and layout of the traffic system in that area means they are served by different roads. I think ambulances coming to the Mercy would be unlikely to be affected. You could make the same of almost any development in the city centre. I presume that he also objected to the expansion of the Tyndall Institute across the road from the Mercy?


He's certainly correct about this. I wonder did he object when the original apartment block was planned?

Someone did. I worked on that site and the original 5/6 story building that was going up was reduced to 2/3 story