Mairéad Ronan secures planning for Waterford holiday home revamp despite local opposition

Gordon Deegan

Broadcaster and podcaster, Mairéad Ronan, has secured the green light for a revamped and extended holiday home at tourism hotspot, Dunmore East - with the help of the design firm owned by celebrity architect, Dermot Bannon.

This follows Waterford City and County Council granting planning permission to Mairéad and Louis Ronan for the house revamp and extension, despite the opposition of a number of locals.

The council has granted planning permission with 11 conditions attached after the firm owned by 'Room to Improve’ architect, Dermot Bannon lodged revised plans on behalf of the Ronans, reducing in scale and massing of their planned holiday home extension and revamp.

In a long running planning battle, the Ronans have been trying to secure the planning go-ahead to redevelop their home at Dunmore East for more than four years now.

The Council stalled the latest scheme in February of this year and requested the Ronans to lodge revised plans and those plans were placed with the Council last month.

In December of last year, the Ronans lodged their second planning application for the house expansion drawn up by Dermot Bannon Architects for a house extension that was almost three times the size of the couple’s existing home at Dunmore East.

The Ronans were applying for a scaled down version of the Dermot Bannon designed scheme that was refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanala in November 2023 in a bid to overcome planners and locals’ concerns.

The plan lodged last December included a 165 sq metre extension compared to the 60 sq metre home currently in place where 46 sq metre of the existing home all be retained.

In the revised plans lodged, Peter McEleney of Dermot Bannon Architects told the council last month that “the design of the proposed extension has been significantly altered from the previous design with a reduction in the scale, bulk and massing”.

Architect, Mr McEleney stated that the gross floor area “has also been reduced from 211.48 m² on the previous design, under this application, to 200.43 m²”.

Mr McEleney stated that the proposed bedrooms will be reduced from five to four with the kitchen/dining area being relocated to the ground floor with the living area remaining at first floor.

However, the scaled down plan did little to placate neighbours’ concerns over the development with all six neighbours who lodged four original objections earlier this year lodging fresh objections to the revised proposals.

In their new objection, Valerie and Trevor Walsh told the council that creating a circa 200 sq metre “Holiday Pad” in place of a 61 sq metre house is clearly at variance with an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) guideline of keeping the additional developmental footage comparable, or indeed, smaller than the original accommodation.

They state that "all the plans, statements and words cannot obscure this fact".

The Walshs pointed out that the Council letter seeking the revised plans points out that “the proposed extension should be subordinate to the main dwelling and not dominate etc. ...”

They state that the “the problem which faced the design team and which is essentially insoluble, is that the site is too small for the proposed 5 bedroom/ reception/office house".

In his new objection, Patrick Cregg pointed out that the scale of the Ronan proposal has changed little, reducing from 211.48 sqm to 200.43 sqm - a 5 per cent reduction.

Mr Cregg contended that the Ronan proposal “in this special location would do much to harm the special character given its scale and the resulting domination of the vistas”.

In their new objection, Breda and John Battles argued that the extension “is far too oversized in comparison to the original dwelling and terrace”

The Battles claimed that “the proposed development is far too large to squeeze in to the small garden area of the original house”

They stated that the entertainment area placed as a viewing platform on the first floor level “will cause overlooking to our property and public spaces”.

In his new objection, Tom O’Regan stated that “I believe the current proposal would have a negative impact on the streetscape and negatively affect the special interest qualities listed above. The original terrace does not need such a change foisted upon it after standing as it was designed and built nearly 200 years ago”.

The objectors now have the option of appealing the grant of permission to An Coimisiún Pleanála.