Board rejects major plans for town site

A MAJOR housing and leisure development, earmarked for Caherciveen, has been turned down by An Bord Pleanála.

The original application, also rejected by Kerry County Council, had been for 64 houses and a restaurant, with 143 car parking spaces, on the former Rod and Reel shop site, in the town.

A large number of objection were lodged, mainly from the residents of Marian Place and St Joseph’s Terrace, to the south of the proposal site.

They were concerned about the impact of the development on adjoining residences, and the implications of a widened and realigned public road through the site.

A revised proposal, submitted last April, consisted of a 24-bedroom hotel, with restaurant/bar and 10 self-catering holiday apartments, two retail units, five two-bedroom apartments, 14 duplex townhouses and 12 terraced three-storey houses.

Bord Pleanála has upheld the council’s refusal for that development on the grounds that it would encroach on to the line of a proposed relief and waterfront access road.

Another reason for the refusal was that the development was judged to be premature pending the preparation of a local area plan for Caherciveen.

Meanwhile, people living in the fast-growing Kilcummin area, on the outskirts of Killarney, are voicing strong objections to yet another proposed housing development.

They have lodged an appeal with Bord Pleanála against a decision of Kerry County Council to give planning for 21 townhouses, a shop and pub. Residents claimed Kilcummin had already taken more than its fair share of such development, in recent years.

“Enough is enough and it is time to cry stop,” they added in a submission to the county council.