asked the Minister for Local Government when an application for planning permission in respect of a petrol filling station (details supplied) in County Limerick was made to the planning authority; the nature and date of the decision thereon; the grounds for the decision; the date of the appeal to him against the decision; the date on which the appeal was upheld by him; and the grounds on which he upheld the appeal.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - County Limerick Petrol Station.
10.
The application for planning permission for this petrol filling station was received by the planning authority on 15th October, 1968. Their decision to refuse permission was made on 30th October, 1968, for the reasons that the site was located in a village on an arterial road and the erection of a petrol filling station on it would create a serious traffic hazard because of the restricted area of the site and the absence of proper acceleration and deceleration lanes and because the station, having regard to its location opposite a church, would tend to attract an undesirable amount of concentrated parking.
The appeal against the planning authority's decision was lodged on 28th November, 1968. After careful examination of all aspects of the case, including the facts that the site was located on a long, straight and fairly wide village street lying within the 30 mph speed limit zone and that off-street servicing would be provided, it was considered that the traffic objections were not sufficiently strong to justify a refusal. Accordingly, a decision to grant permission was made on 16th October, 1969, subject to two conditions, one of which required the removal of an Electricity Supply Board lighting standard from the site to improve both visibility for traffic and traffic movements. The other condition stipulated that the forecourt be tar-macadamed in the interests of visual amenity.