*Sixmilebridge. Photograph: Joe Buckley
PLANS for seventy four houses in Sixmilebridge have been lodged with Clare County Council.
The large development is earmarked for a vacant site along the R471 route, close to the Shannon Road housing estate in Clare’s third biggest settlement.
Datcha Construction Limited have applied for planning permission for a development consisting of seventy four residential units. These are comprised of six detached houses, forty semi-detached houses and twenty eighty terrace houses. Also included in the plans are ancillary surface car parking, vehicular and pedestrian access to the proposed development, and connection to existing public water supply.
This new development comes after Datcha was already granted planning permission for thirty one houses in August 2024, despite opposition from local residents who stated that the Bridge is “at or above capacity” and raised concerns about the level of traffic the development could cause.
A number of community amenities are included in the plans for the development such as a community seating space with benches and a natural play area for children with balance logs, play boulders, an embankment slide, balance stilts and a play mound. Environmental amenities are also featured in the plans with buffer planting and native hedgerow screening proposed to give potential residents privacy.
Designated pedestrian and cycle paths are planned throughout the development. A speed limit of 30km/h has been suggested for the development when completed. The site entrance will be accessed by a proposed new junction to be built on the Shannon Road. The site is designated as part of the Limerick-Shannon Metropolitan Area and is well connected by road and rail to surrounding large settlements such as Shannon, Limerick and Ennis.
Limerick based Architects Arnold Leahy state in the application that “The proposed development is focused on the creation of a high-quality, residential environment in terms of overall design and layout, a mixture of tenure types and unit sizes, and the provision of high quality landscaped public open spaces”.
The proposed development would be well connected to local amenities in Sixmilebridge such as the Bridge Kids Creche, Bridge United soccer pitch plus Sixmilebridge’s GAA facilities at O’Garney Park and Cappa Lodge. In terms of environmental impact, the development is expected to be minimal. The proposed greenfield site is located close to a number of sites in agricultural use.
Water issues were raised by Uisce Éireann in response to Datcha’s recent development plans. The state water provider noted that the applicant must “enter into a connection agreement with Uisce Éireann” in order to “provide adequate water and wastewater facilities”.
In order to reduce pollution from run-off at this site, OBB consulting engineers state that “In the context of the proposed development, it is proposed that all surface water run-off will go through a two-stage treatment train via permeable paving, rain gardens, tree pits, and swales before discharging at a controlled rate into the receiving systems”.
Clare County Council is due to make a decision on the proposed development before May 5th 2025. Submissions and objections to the proposed development can be issued until April 14th.
