Council ‘breaking rural policy to grant house plans’

MEMBERS of Kerry County Council are continuing to disregard the advice of their senior planners by granting a growing number of planning applications for houses in scenic areas.

The latest example is a decision to give the green light for a house on the spectacular Ring of Kerry to a prominent figure in Irish tourism, Henry O’Neill, chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland.

In doing so, the council has, according to senior planning engineer Tom Sheehy, failed to comply with the rural settlement policy it adopted last week as part of a county development plan.