An Bord Pleanala writes 16-page report rejecting bicycle shed, but owner now might replace it with trailer which isn’t covered by planning laws

The report was used to reject an appeal to overturn Cork City Council’s rejection of permission to retain the parking unit in a front driveway in Ballintemple in Cork City.

Some planners and other observers have maintained that this is an issue of the principle of law and good planning — they say you cannot have structures at the front of houses — but the political response has talked of a system where people are getting “bogged down in bureaucracy” and councillors in different areas vowed to change their development plans.

The Cork shed’s owner, Denis O’Regan, told IrishCycle.com this week that one of the options he’s looking at is getting a trailer and pointed out a number of flaws in the planning report. He may also look at a fresh application to retain the shed.

He said: “It appears that none of these structures will ever be granted by the planning authorities until the regulations change. I am currently considering my options. One option would be to submit a fresh planning application seeking retention for five years.”

There have also been a number of other planning cases on bicycle sheds at the front of houses which have been rejected, including two in Clontarf in Dublin City and one in Westport in Co Mayo.

In one of the cases in Clontarf, An Bord Pleanála took the time to go against its inspector and reject a “bicycle bunker” shaped shed in a front garden. The inspector, in that case, noted that screening with appropriate landscaping would negate any impacts further and that this matter could be dealt with by means of a planning condition.

The planning inspector, Patricia-Marie Young, concluded that the shed which includes space for a cargo, the family’s other bicycles as well as bins, “infringes on the existing building line and constitutes a sub-standard form of development, the retention of which would, both by itself and the precedent such a retention would set, give rise to disorderly form of development that would have a negative visual impact on the character of the area in a manner that would fail to accord with the proper planning and sustainable development as provided for under the Cork City Development Plan, 2022-2028.”

O’Regan has added screening using potted plants and points out that this kind of approach of planners making approval conditional of screening being put in place was taken at one stage by Cork City Council planners in a case not too far from his home.

In the case in Westport, the owners replaced their large shed, with green screening, with a larger trailer to allow for secure storage of their family’s cargo bicycle. Some members of the public comment about the size of O’Regan and other structures on articles about sheds at the front of houses, but none of them as elevated or as bulky looking the trailer used in Westport.

Once a driveway or on-street parking is in place, parking a vehicle of any size is not a planning issue.

A large part of the issue with sheds seems to stem from some planners maintaining that sheds at the front of houses are uncommon when such structures can be found in many housing estates and city streets where there is limited or no rear access.

Bicycle owners, campaigners, and a number of politicians have said that the fear of theft and lack of easy access to bicycle storage makes cycling less attractive in some areas of our towns and cities with limited rear access.

Some members of the public outline how it’s an issue of “motonormativity” because the system — and many fellow commenters — see no issue with motor vehicle parking while planners are calling the even more modest bike bunker-like structures “significant visual clutter” on conservative streets lined with on-street car parking.

In her report, Young, outlined that: “Having examined the planning history of the Maryville residential scheme I found no recent and/or relevant planning precedent for any similar structure forward of the building line. Nor did I observe any similar interventions in the setback area between the public domain and the main principal elevation of properties within the residential scheme of Maryville.”

A quick look at Google Street View disproves that there are no “similar interventions in the setback area between the public domain and the main principal elevation of properties” — or, in English, sheds at the front of houses. Such sheds can be found on the same street where O’Regan’s house is.

The Dublin Inquirer reported that one of the Clontarf householders, Siobhan Kelly, complained to planners that many other houses have sheds out front.

Last year, the newspaper reported that she “submitted 107 complaints about ‘structures of various sizes, designs and locations, sited to the front of residential properties in the Dublin 3 area’, says an email from a council planning enforcement manager to her on 25 April.”

Dublin City Council’s planners, rather than denying the reality of the clear evidence they were given, called the examples “vexatious” and said they would not take up any of the cases but would continue to pursue Kelly.

If planners think they are the boy with his finger in a leaking dike, the shed owners who want safe and convenient storage for their bikes have been left wondering why their drops of water are being singled out when there’s an ocean of front-of-house sheds out there.

Back in Cork, we’ve only examined the beginning of the issues which O’Regan raised about how the planning inspector wrote her report after a site visit.

Planning inspector Young raises the issue of “a concern” that the rest of the driveway does “not meet the standards set out” in the Cork City Development plan for parking spaces, including an easily accessible area of
hard stand to accommodate a car to be parked and a gate “opening arrangement is one that would not require opening outwards onto public footpath or carriageway given the obstructions currently present on site.”

O’Regan told this website that: “The inspector appears to be indicating that gates would need to open outwards. This is untrue as gates only open inwards, and the driveway can easily accommodate a car.”

In the same breath the planning inspector claims that there’s enough space for bicycles to to be pushed in the gap to rear of O’Regan’s home. She wrote: “Whilst there may be restrictions due to the limited space remaining between the extended two storey side and rear extension it is sufficient width to accommodate movement of bicycles.”

The width of the side path — which is outlined in drawings provided to planners — is 460mm.

O’Regan said that a quick Google confirms that the average width of handlebars on an adult bike ranges from 650m to 750mm. IrishCycle.com tried a few attempts at this and found that a few quick Google might actually leave the searcher with the wrong impression that the gap is sufficient.

The space may only be sufficient for narrower road racing bikes. This is not the case for other types of bicycles including common commuters or utility bikes, as well as mountain bikes.

In one of the latest political interventions on the issue, Senator Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) raised the issue in the Seanad during a debate on the Planning Bill last Wednesday.

Senator Rebecca Moynihan said: “This is a very small issue but it has a big impact in that in many places bike bunker storage, particular within small, dense urban areas requires and has been turned down for planning permission. It was raised with me in Ballintemple in Cork City. I see it has happened in Clontarf. We have huge difficulties in getting bike bunker storage.”

Giving her own experience, she said: “If I park my car, I can take up public space with my car outside of my house. I cannot take up that public space with bike bunker storage. I have both a car and a cargo bike. My car is absolutely fine to leave outside and it will take up that public space but my cargo bike cannot take up that public space. We need to make sure we are, through planning, allowing for active travel and the facilities and infrastructure that will facilitate that.”

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien TD replied: “Senator Moynihan raised a point regarding bike storage. I do not mean to pick one minor issue out of all this. I am using that as an example. That type of thing will be looked at with the regulations.”

The Minister’s Department had promised to look at legislative action on the issue before. It seems it may now be tied up with the controversial Planning Bill, which has already been delayed until after the Summer.