New controversy at Mullaghmore

A PROPOSED car park in the Burren National Park has sparked another planning controversy, 11 years after the ill-fated interpretative €4.8 million centre was demolished at the conclusion of a lengthy court battle.

The Burren Action Group (BAG), who were involved in the last campaign back in the ’90s, has condemned a planning application by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) for a 27-space car park at Knockaunroe near Mullaghmore as “piecemeal” and “premature” in its comprehensive hard-hitting objection lodged with the local planning authority.

Their concerns are shared by An Taisce Built Environment and Heritage Officer, Ian Lumley who has requested the National Parks and Wildlife Service to withdraw its proposal. Mr Lumley stated any further plan should only be presented after proper public consultation on the updating of the management plan for the park and provision of a plan for a candidate special area of conservation.

The NPWS has lodged plans with the council for a car park on the site of the overflow car park of the original centre about 280m east of Gortlecka Crossroads, mainly for “inspirational, recreational, educational and research purposes and to reduce the frequency of parking along the road verges that occurs at present”.

The wildlife service insists their intention is to cater for existing visitor usage and to improve road safety, traffic congestion and access problems, particularly for local communities

It claims there will be no loss of EU-designated habitats “and no significant impact on the structure and functioning of these habitats”.

The BAG argues that planning permission should be refused as the proposal’s overall effect will be to generate incremental development in the core of the national park and is not consistent with its stated aim to cater for existing demand.

It claims that a stand-alone car park can’t address management issues at the site and in the wider national park, which was explicitly recognised by the applicant and all other parties at the conclusion of the An Bord Pleanála hearing in 2000.

Senior counsel, Eamon Galligan, on behalf of the applicant, “concurred generally with the argument that a grant of permission for the retention of the car park without attendant staff and toilet facilities would not be an appropriate decision insofar as it would not address the issue of uncontrolled visitor access to the national park along with the consequential trampling impacts.

The BAG claims the proposal is “premature” as it comes in advance of an agreed national park management plan.

“The NPWS fail to offer a single procedure to compel, incentivise or otherwise encourage visitors to use the car park instead of using the Crag Road verge.

“By providing a car park, the applicant diminishes and undermines their own management option of park and ride – an option that has the positive effect of lessening car usage and reducing the visitors’ carbon footprint, thus strengthening and confirming their perception this vulnerable landscape is managed in an environmentally friendly manner.

“There is considerable potential for successful dialogue that can result in a management plan that respects and promotes the needs of the host people, local environment and those wishing to engage in sustainable low impact tourism and in around the national park.

“There are alternative sites that can accommodate parking in the ownership of the applicant. There are also options for more multifaceted management practices available that can contribute to better visitor management in the park.

“A process to explore these options should precede a grant of permission to return to a site that has already failed the test of one of the longest and most comprehensive planning processes in the history of the state,” the BAG stated.

According to planning documents, “the intention is to encourage low-impact, dispersed access to the national park”.

“There will be no bins, picnic or toilet facilities, no water supply and no lighting.” The car park will operate from dawn to dusk on weekdays and at weekends.

The planned car park is within the East Burren Complex Special Area of Conservation and follows incremental improvements to visitor access to the Burren National Park in the recent past.

Five walking trails have been developed near the car park, while a visitor information point opened in Corofin this year.

At the end of the previous Mullaghmore controversy, the Supreme Court eventually ruled the State was not exempt from planning laws.

Following this ground–breaking ruling in 2001, the visitor centre was torn down.

Síle de Valera, then minister for arts and heritage, later applied for a scaled–down centre with parking for up to 76 cars, with toilets and ranger accommodation.

This was turned down after An Bord Pleanála found it would be “an unacceptable degradation of the environment and would detract from the scenery and rural character of the area”.