Appeal against Burren homes upheld

A SENIOR member of Clare County Council said yesterday it was disgraceful that An Bord Pleanála has denied two local people the right to live in the Burren.

The chairman of the council’s special policy committee (SPC) on planning, Fine Gael councillor Martin Conway, was responding to the appeals board upholding two appeals by An Taisce against one-off homes in the Burren. Responding to the decisions, Cllr Conway said: “An Bord Pleanála is an unelected, unaccountable quango, and it is unacceptable it would seek to deprive local people from living in their local areas in the Burren.” Last year, the council granted planning permission to Mary Queally to construct a home at Fanore More, while Christine Glynn secured planning for a home at Behagh, Burrin.

An Taisce appealed the Queally decision, while An Taisce and the National Roads Authority (NRA) appealed the Glynn decision. In upholding the appeal against the Queally plan, the appeals board ruled that “the proposed development is located on an elevated and exposed site within an area identified as visually vulnerable in the Clare County Development Plan and is visible from a vulnerable route”. In relation to Christine Glynn’s application, the appeals board ruled “the site is located within a vulnerable landscape, is highly visible from a scenic route and forms part of the Newquay Church, a protected structure.”