Cllr Adrian Henchy has expressed concern about a planning application and said recently. “I support developments in Donabate where they are of merit, well designed and contribute something positively back into the Community. However, there are a lot of major shortfalls in this planning application. The only merit at this stage is the provision of housing but without the critical underpinning of the social and physical infrastructure that would be needed in tandem with a scale of this enormous development upon the rural peninsula of Donabate. The fact the developer acknowledges within their documentation, that this application is a breach of the Donabate Local Area Plan is totally unacceptable for me given the enormous work, time, effort and extensive public consultation that has gone into adopting the Donabate Local Area Plan.I would also contend that this application is also in breach of National Planning Guidelines and I would also lend a lot of weight to the Ministerial Circular Letter: NRUP 02/2021 from April 2021. The Circular clarifies the application of the Sustainable Residential Development Guidelines to ensure that when carrying out their planning functions, An Bord Pleanála and Planning Authorities apply a graduated and responsive, tailored approach to the assessment of residential densities in Peripheral and/or Less Accessible Urban Locations,which would very much apply to Donabate.This high-density development made up of mainly one and two bedroom apartments is entirely unsuited to a rural environment and is not in keeping with the dramatic and critically important local landscape that is at the very heart of this application.On behalf of my local community, I want to acknowledge the work and effort of Donabate Portrane Community Council who have worked tirelessly with the local community in highlighting the biggest planning application that has ever been lodged on the community of Donabate and the second largest strategic housing development (SHD) that has ever gone to An Bord Pleanala.The fact, this application was lodged at the height of the summer season with absolutely no public engagement was very disappointing.I would request that An Bord Pleanala in its deliberations reject this SHD Planning application and instead request that the developer goes back to Fingal County Council and starts again with this development by clearly working within the frame work of the visionary Donabate Local Area Plan and the Fingal County development plan.”