Report Paul Murphy
Concern over the cost to individual home applicants of having to provide airport noise assessments have been raised by Fianna Fail, Cllr Caroline O’Reilly. At today’s (Wednesday’s) meeting of Ratoath Municipal District she asked “what is the policy basis for requiring airport noise assessments with applications for one-off houses, and has this requirement been reviewed given the additional cost it places on individual home builders, particularly in areas where there are already established homes?
When these people are building a single family home, additional technical reports should be clearly justified and proportionate especially where there is existing residential development nearby”. County council officials replied that the county development plan 2021-2027 sets out criteria for developments in the vicinity of the airport. They said that public safety zones, approach zones to Dublin Airport and noise zones associated with airport flight operation are illustrated on Map 5.4.1.
They said that in the assessment of development within these zones regard shall be had to the relevant policy documents, implications of same and consultation shall take place with the relevant authorities. The officials also referred to County Development Plan policy statements and objectives relevant to the development within airport zones.
Cllr O’Reilly said she was not happy with the response and said “The reply [from the council] explains the policy but it doesn’t address my question about whether this requirement is proportionate for one-off houses in established residential areas, or whether the cost impact on families has been reviewed”. She said she will make a submission for an amendment to the next county development plan to address this.
