“Serious concerns” on the visual impact of a major development planned for Ennis have been raised by Clare County Council.
Further information has been requested by the local authority on an application for 46 residential units, a digital hub and cafe in Drumbiggle in Ennis. The site fronts onto Drumbiggle Rd, Buttermarket St and Simm’s Lane in a historic part of the town.
Eko Integrated Services Ltd are behind the application, it is the same company that was paid €115.5m by the State to obtain personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, the second highest amount received by a company in the country.
30 two-bedroom apartments and three one-bedroom apartments over semi-basement level with 20 car-parking spaces are included in the plans. A cafe and digital hub at ground level to Simm’s Lane plus a four storey apartment building, stepping down to three storeys on the Buttermarket Street Lane with seven two-bedroom apartments; six three-storey terraced town houses to Buttermarket Street, a new substation and five new set-down car parking spaces are also included. Four vacant cottages to the north of Buttermarket St are to be demolished as part of the plans.
Height, massing and scale of the plans were described as “not acceptable” by the County Council. The developers have been asked to submit a re-design for the entire development which has “regard to the existing built environment and building lines as well as the historic context of the site. An “over-dominance” of two bedroom units was labelled as unsatisfactory by the local authority.
Local residents had expressed their intention to fight the development “tooth and nail” while flagging that Áras Uí Cochlainn, a block of apartments in the area had been the scene of some anti-social behaviour before its demolition in the past two decades.
Submissions from the public warned of anti-social behaviour and “chaotic parking”. Some residents have expressed their view that a car park would be more suitable.
Stephen Loftus in a submission on behalf of local residents outlined, “There is a certain amount of anti-social behaviour and these residents do not need any more. Ennis West, from Drumbiggle Road to upper Cloughleigh have absorbed a lot of this behaviour and it’s time we got a break. Good, decent, honest people have suffered in silence for many years. What other side of town has been treated like us on the west side.”
Shortage of housing was referenced by Eko as part of their application. “The development has been designed to meet the demand for high quality, sustainable homes in Ennis and is designed to integrate with the existing context. At a time when there is unprecedented demand for housing, a mixture of apartments and town houses was considered appropriate for this site”.
