The planning battle over a planned 43-foot high sound barrier for the beer garden for a JD Wetherspoon pub at Camden Street in Dublin is set to continue.
It follows JD Wetherspoon plc lodging an appeal with An Bord Pleanála against last month's decision by Dublin City Council to refuse planning permission for the barrier dubbed by one local resident as "taller than the Berlin Wall".
JD Wetherspoon plc proposed the 43ft high and 26.5ft wide sound barrier to allow it re-open a 244-person capacity beer garden attached to its 'super-pub’ at the 89-bedroom Keaven’s Port hotel.
In April of last year, the English headquartered pub operator temporarily ceased trading at the beer garden arising from local residents' complaints over noise levels from its operation.
The planned sound barrier faced strong opposition from parents of children attending an adjacent Montessori School, the D2 Creche and Montessori, and from local residents.
In a comprehensive rejection of the scheme, the council concluded that the sound barrier would create an unacceptably high, solid barrier in an inappropriate material and would seriously injure the architectural character, setting, special interest and amenity of protected structures within the area.
The council also concluded that the sound barrier "would create an unwelcome precedent for such an unsympathetic intervention".
In a 26-page planning report lodged with the application, planning consultants, Brock McClure have stated that "the barrier has been developed to protect all persons who will live, work or engage in other activities in the immediate vicinity of the courtyard from noise disturbance from the outside seating area".
The report stated that particular emphasis has been paid to nearby residential properties surrounding the premises.
Brock McClure said that a post construction monitoring programme will be critical to the success of the proposed solution.
The report stated that "the applicant is fully committed to a monitoring programme that manages occupancy of the courtyard space within the acceptable noise parameters".
The consultants stated that the design and scale of the barrier is appropriate for the site and is entirely reversible and can be removed in the future as necessary.
Last month, mother of two children attending the adjacent D2 Creche and Montessori, Naoise McNally welcomed the council's refusal.
Ms McNally stated: "The enormous scale and its proximity to the creche would have made it really oppressive for the children at the creche and if it had come to fruition would have made for a prison-like atmosphere there. For little tiny children, it would have been very unpleasant."
Ms McNally added: "Childcare in this city is very difficult to come by and such high quality childcare should not be compromised for outdoor drinking for people when we have plenty of that in the city."
Ms McNally and other interested parties will be able to submit observations to the appeals board on the Wetherspoon appeal.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
