BUNRATTY residents say housing should not be built on the old Shannon Shamrock Hotel site to protect the integrity of the area as a tourism location in a fresh appeal.
Appeals have been submitted to An Coimisiún Pleanála asking that the decision to grant permission for 67 homes on the site of the old Shannon Shamrock Hotel be reversed. The development also includes a 470sqm convenience store, and six retail/office units.
Clare County Council gave the green-light for the development in September subject to 29 conditions. The Shannon Shamrock has been vacant for sixteen years.
In its appeal, the Bunratty Local Development Association argued that the County Council has lost a significant opportunity in integrating with the Castle and creating a connection between the two sites through a tourism-related development. The protected site of Bunratty Castle “seems to have been ignored in the site layout”, they claim.
Local resident, Mike Fitzpatrick stated, “The approach to the design of any development should be sensitive and reflective of the nature of the area”. Instead of complimenting its neighbour of Bunratty Castle, Fitzpatrick calls the proposed housing units “a typical suburban housing estate” and thinks that its development is “inappropriate for such a critical site at the heart of a major tourism hub”.
Fitzpatrick said in his appeal that the development would exceed the housing allocation for Bunratty in the County Development Plan. The Bunratty targets outlined in the plan aim to tackle the 66 population increase from 2023-2029 and states that a 41-house increase is required, 12 of which should be located in Brownfield and 29 in Greenfield. Fitzpatrick claimed, “the total allocation of housing for Bunratty has been exhausted”.
He added, “It is difficult to see how a well-founded decision to grant permission could have been made without this critical issue being addressed”.
Impact on local educational facilities has not been factored into the decision, the Bunratty LDA flagged. Clonmoney NS located 3.4km from the site is the nearest primary school. Leahy Planning Ltd explained on behalf of the appellant that a 40-minute walk is inappropriate for a primary school and asked, “Is this not very much a case of putting the cart before the horse. Surely, if the planning authority are anxious to see a major housing developed in Bunratty, the council should first take proactive measures towards the provision of a primary school”.
There was also some disagreement in the reference to the development’s “mixed use”. In the Development Plan, it explains, “on lands that have been zones ‘mixed-use’ in our near town or village centres, a diverse range of day and evening uses is encouraged, and overconcentration of any one use will not normally be permitted.” However, Leahy Planning Ltd claim that mixed-use zoning was never intended to facilitate a primarily housing development and that the planning permissions “directly contradicts” the description of mixed-use.
“It can be considered a mixed-use development only by stretching the meaning of such a term beyond breaking point,” commented Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick said that the development is inconsistent with the development plan objectives and wrote, “The Planning Report makes little effort to specifically address these issues other than say that it accepts that the development meets the criteria of the development plan with very little indication or jurisdiction as to why.”
Originally seeking permission for 67 residential units, the applicant, Crescent House Limited, the granted 58 units were to comprise of 12 two-bedroom units, 42 three-bedroom units, and four four-bedroom units. A bat house, car and bicycle parking, signage, public lighting, and two ESB sub-stations were also to be constructed.
A total of 35 submissions have been received by the Clare County Council objecting to this development. Complaints have been pouring in all year from locals who highlighted their visual impact and noise concerns, while some worried that the development may negatively impact the setting of Bunratty Castle.
