Meath County Council grants permission for 141-home scheme at Ratoath, Co. Meath

In context

It is one of 98 housing scheme applications Meath County Council has received in the past twelve months, against 1,557 nationally. Of the 3,030 such applications decided by councils in the past three years, 79% were granted.

What happens next

The applicant, or anyone who made a submission on the application, can appeal the decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála within four weeks of 18 December 2024. If no appeal is lodged, the council’s decision stands and a final grant issues.

The development description, as lodged

Verbatim from the Meath County Council register. This is the source for every figure in the story above.

‘Large-Scale Residential Development’ (LRD) at a site with a total area of 5.48 hectares principally located at Main Street/R125 and Ballybin Road, Ratoath, Co. Meath. The total site contains a proposed residential development site with an area of 3.66 hectares (bisected by a proposed realigned Ballybin Road) and a proposed infrastructural development site with an area of 1.82 hectares (principally for road and related works, water services and open space amalgamation). The site is generally bound by: Fox Lodge Woods and Fox Lodge Manor to the west and north; existing agricultural lands and residential development to the north and east; existing Ballybin Road and Moulden Bridge to the east; and Main Street/R125 and Jamestown Road/L1016 to the south. The site also incorporates parts of: the existing Ballybin Road (north and west of Moulden Bridge), Main Street/R125, Jamestown Road/L1016 and green open space in Fox Lodge Manor. The proposed development principally consists of the demolition of 2 No. dwellings (594 square metres gross floor area combined) and 1 No. agricultural shed (988.7 square metres gross floor area) and the construction of 141 No. residential dwellings with a gross floor area of 12,428 square metres in buildings of 2 No. and 3 No. storeys. The dwellings include 117 No. houses (57 No. 2-bed, 52 No. 3-bed, 7 No. 4-bed and 1 No. 5-bed) and 24 No. maisonette/duplex units (18 No. 1-bed and 6 No. 3-bed). The development also proposes a reconfiguration of the road layout at the south (Main Street/R125 and Jamestown Road/L1016) and east (Ballybin Road) of the site. Specifically, it is proposed to demolish/remove the existing 5-arm roundabout and to replace same with a new 4-arm signalised junction and reconfigured access to the existing Ratoath Childcare site. The new junction arrangement will facilitate a proposed realignment of the southern section of the existing Ballybin Road (approximately 172 metres) as the northern arm of the new signalised junction and a revised entrance for the existing dwelling to the north-east of the site at Ballybin Road (known as ‘Fox Lodge Farm’, Eircode A84 KF97). The proposed road infrastructure works also include: road markings, traffic signals, traffic signage, footpaths and cycle infrastructure. The development also proposes: 2 No. new multi-modal accesses onto the proposed realigned Ballybin Road to serve the bisected residential site; 2 No. pedestrian accesses onto Main Street/R125 and 1 No. pedestri