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AN Bord Pleanála this week overturned a decision by Clare County Council granting planning permission for a 26-pitch campsite and associated buildings in North Clare.
Last year, Aiden Fitzgerald of Ballyvoe, Doolin applied to the local authority for permission to erect a 26-pitch campsite, service building, office, shop, store and café, recreation room, bureau de change, two retail units with overhead apartments, playground, bin store and associated works.
Clare County Council granted permission for the development in February subject to 28 conditions, one of which required a special contribution of €35,000 towards the provision of footpaths. A document with the file showed that the council plans to purchase land and build a footpath from Fitz’s Cross to Fisher Street and that the €35,000 would be a small percentage of this.
Mr Fitzgerald appealed the condition, pointing out that as part of the development, he is building a footpath along the public road in front of the site on his land and as such was making a significant contribution to providing a footpath between Fitz’s Cross and Fisher Street. The development is also subject to standard contributions under an adopted scheme, which includes a provision for expenditure on roads infrastructure. He claimed that the additional requirement for €35,000 to be paid as a special contribution was not justified.
The permission was also appealed by Doolin residents Pat and Joan O’Connor from O’Connor’s Guesthouse, Martin Doherty, Knockstoolery and Pat and Martina O’Brien, Tirogean.
In their appeal, they stated that they did not object in principle to the buildings in the development but that their main concern related to the density of what was proposed “when the retail/café element is allied to the proposed caravan park and the likely impact of the combined development on the area”.
Their appeal was based on five issues, that the development is “contrary to proper planning and sustainable development of the area as it makes no positive contribution to the tourism product; the development is haphazard and would result in the remainder of the zoned area at this location being isolated and uncoordinated for later development; the density of the development proposed on the site is excessive, having regard to the size and configuration of the site; the development would be prejudicial to public health and is premature pending the improvement of the public sewerage system; and the development would adversely impact on the amenities of the area/adjoining property”.
The residents also stated in their appeal that while some argument may be made for the retail element of the development, “no argument can be made that the caravan/tent developments make any positive contribution to the tourism product of the settlement as they merely replicate developments that are already struggling to survive. It could be argued that the opposite is the case and that the development makes a negative contribution to the tourism product of Doolin.”
The appeal outlined a number of concerns relating to the layout of the proposed development and, in particular, the location of the proposed public playground “at the extreme end of the site where children would be playing unattended and unsupervised”.
It added that it had reservations in relation to the proposed private effluent treatment system on the site.
An Bord Pleanála refused permission for the proposed project, stating it would be premature because of a deficiency in the provision of sewerage facilities in Doolin. It also stated that the proposed development on the northern part of the site in the vicinity of the river, including the works to raise the level of the ground and install a retaining wall, would “materially contravene” a zoning objective that applies to the land along the river and which requires the maintenance of a 10m margin from the river bank free of development.
“That element of the proposed development would also give rise to a significant risk of water pollution, interfere with a floodplain contrary to the advice in The Planning System and Flood Risk Management Guidelines for Planning Authorities issued by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in November 2009 and would prejudice the provision of an amenity walkway through the site to the adjoining land… The proposed development would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area,” stated a board member.