UCD has been cleared to install lighting around the car park adjacent to the water tower on Wynnsward Drive. Planning permission was originally sought last August to provide fourteen freestanding lights around the car park.
Application D16A/0634 was approved last December with 5 conditions attached by Dun Laoghaire – Rathdown County Council. Condition Two stated that the “lighting masts shall be in operation no later than 2230hrs and no earlier than 0600hrs” in order to “protect the residential amenities of the adjoining more sensitive zone.”
Before commencing development, UCD was required to provide “details of appropriate measures to ensure compliance with this time restriction” to the Council. UCD submitted documents on how they planned to do this on the 26th June 2017. The Council approved it on September 13th.
Since this was the only major condition which had a pre-commencement compliance requirement, UCD is now free to begin the work. UCD was also ordered to erect a 1.5m high timber fence around nearby tress to protect them before beginning the work. However, this condition did not require any further Council clearance before work began.
The Council’s main concern with the application was the fact the car park is located just beside a residential area. It has ordered that the three lights closest to the houses to be fitted with light attenuating devices to minimise the light spill onto the properties. UCD is obliged to carry out a monitoring of light levels within three months of the completion of the project, then submit a written report to the planning authority about it by the following month.
The Tribune previously revealed in April that UCD’s original plan to build a €12.5 million five storey car park was cancelled after encountering finance issues. The proposed site was just beside the water tower, near the location of the new lights. UCD received planning permission for it in 2010, but bids from contractors seeking the tender in 2013 were far in excess of what UCD had budgeted for the project.
Cian Carton – Editor
