An Bord Pleanála upheld the decision of South Dublin County Council to approve the development of a large cemetery on a portion of the former 18-hole golf course at the Citywest Hotel and Convention Centre in Saggart, Co Dublin.
However, the board stipulated that the laying of remains of deceased individuals in the cemetery’s reception building is prohibited.
It rejected an appeal by a local resident who claimed the cemetery was “unsustainable, unnecessary and unviable” due to a dramatic reduction in the demand for burials in Dublin.
The resident, Colm McGrath, branded the proposal “a waste of space” due to estimates that burials now only account for 30pc of all deaths in Dublin because of the growing popularity of cremation.
He said the existing cemetery in Saggart had an average of one burial a month. Mr McGrath also said the community in Saggart deserved more imaginative development proposals.
Mr McGrath’s views were supported by the Rathcoole Community Council.
The application for planning permission was made by Cape Wrath Hotel, which is an unlimited company affiliated to Citywest’s owners, Tetrarch Capital.
The cemetery, which is situated on part of the former golf course which closed in 2020, will contain 8,074 burial blots and columbarium walls as well as a single-storey reception building with spaces for 60 seated guests and views of a lake on a 13.45-hectare site.
Cape Wrath Hotel also plans to provide a new access from Garter’s Lane to the N7 with two access points.
The company had previously sought permission in 2021 to develop the site as a community sports and civic campus including a golf driving range, playing pitches and floodlit tennis courts as well as a multi-sport building with indoor courts, playground facilities and meeting rooms, but did not complete the planning process for it.
Earlier this year, Cape Wrath Hotel secured planning permission for a solar farm on another part of the former golf course at Citywest on a 6.8 hectare site.
The company said the development of a cemetery would provide a significant quantum of burial plots to serve existing communities in the Saggart, Rathcoole and Fortunestown area.
It said the project would also involve extensive tree planting with the cemetery being designed to reflect the fairway character of the site’s recent use as a golf course through a series of interconnected “parkland” areas.
The hotel’s owners said the cemetery would be managed and maintained by a third-party operator which it had not yet identified.
Subject to compliance with a number of planning conditions, An Bord Pleanála said the cemetery would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of the area.
The board said the project was also acceptable in terms of the safety and convenience of pedestrians and other road users as well as not being prejudicial to public health.
In addition, it said the cemetery would “safeguard the ecological value of the site”.
The board said the planning condition which prohibits the laying out of remains in the reception building was to ensure compliance with the site’s zoning objective which does not permit “a funeral home”.
Cape Wrath Hotel had informed both the board and the local council that it intended using the building for services and as a gathering space prior to burial or interment services at the designated traditional burial plots or columbarium walls.
However, both planning authorities claimed the proposed use of the reception building would fall within the definition of a funeral home.
Although the company had cited the Cemeteries Clauses Act 1847, which allows the owner of a cemetery to build chapels for the performance of burials on its lands, South Dublin County Council said the legislation did not override the site’s zoning objective.
Cape Wrath Hotel was paid €53.7m last year by the Department of Integration for providing accommodation to Ukrainian refugees and international protection applicants at the 764-bed hotel in Citywest.
