Council ‘breaking rural policy to grant house plans’
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.
The decision to give planning to Mr O’Neill, who lives at Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, contravenes an objective of the plan to give preference to people who are native to, or work in, an area.
In relation to Mr O’Neill’s application to build on a site at Drom, Glenbeigh, the planners said a house on the site would injure the visual amenities of the rural landscape.
Mr O’Neill said he wished to set up a tourism consultancy business when he retired to his house in Kerry. He intends building a stone cottage-type dwelling on what planners described as an extremely prominent and exposed site visible from the world-famous tourist route.
“I have a wealth of expertise and knowledge which I believe could and will be valuable to the Glenbeigh area and the county in general,” wrote Mr O’Neill to FF Cllr Michael Cahill.
Mr Cahill proposed the Section 140 motion directing county manger Martin Nolan to give planning. The motion was also signed by FG cllrs PJ Donovan, Michael Connor-Scarteen and Paul O’Donoghue.
Mr Sheehy, however, stressed the backdrop to the house was designated in part as prime special amenity.
The O’Neill motion was one of 15 Section 140 motions passed by Kerry County Council this week.
Meanwhile, a leading members of the Irish Hotels Federation and other tourism bodies in Kerry, Kathleen O’Regan-Sheppard said councillors should exercise caution in planning matters.
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