Plans for more than 230 apartments and 16 townhouses in Blackrock can proceed after An Coimisiún Pleanála rejected an appeal from local residents to block the development.The decision comes following nearly eight years of various rejected applications for planning permission on the site. In 2024, An Coimisiún Pleanála rejected planning permission for 355 build-to-rent apartments at the same location. James Sheehan, co-founder of Blackrock, Hermitage and Galway Clinics, was one of four appellants to the decision. He said the proposed development would “erode the long-established character of the neighbourhood”.Concerns expressed by Sheehan included that the granting of permission might open the door for the demolition of existing properties.He also said that the project would further increase the density of accommodation in the area to an unsustainable level: “Six times the existing houses.”Planning permission was originally granted to Cairn Homes Ltd in by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for a large-scale residential development in March 2025. The site is currently part of the original gardens associated with Chesterfield House, a protected structure. The particular area subject to development features mostly greenfield and several disused outhouses, which will be demolished. A second appellant, Catherine Greene, submitted through planning consultant David Armstrong that the car parking provisions were inadequate due to lack of proximity to public transport, and that the development would “likely give rise to unacceptable levels of overspill and haphazard parking on adjacent roads”. [ Cairn Homes says Irish build-cost inflation is now running at 2.5%Opens in new window ]An Coimisiún Pleanála acknowledged arguments by the appellants that the proposed development would fail to “integrate successfully into or enhance the character of the area”, and “would not respect the historic character of the road”.However, it decided that the proposed development “would result in an appropriate scale and density of residential development”, and “would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of property in the vicinity”.The site off Cross Avenue will accommodate 42 one-bed apartments, 137 two-bed units, and 56 three-bed apartments in two blocks ranging from five to eight storeys over basement in height. The site will additionally include 16 five-bed townhouses, each of them three storeys high. The development will also include a space for a childcare facility, as well as a gym, yoga room, meeting room and resident’s lounge within each apartment block. It will have a maximum of one car-parking space per residential unit, 20 per cent of which will be fitted with electric vehicle charging points.Cairn Homes was contacted for comment.