Plans to build nursing home stalled

AN TAISCE has objected to plans by Coillte to build a 90-bed nursing home in a forestry in east Cork.

The heritage body claimed there was already ample zoned land in the area and the development, if it proceeded, would result in a needless loss of woodland.

An Taisce has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála after Cork County Council approved the plan for the nursing home at Mitchell’s Wood in Castlemartyr.

Ian Lumley, heritage officer with An Taisce, said the organisation had made five specific objections to the plan in their submission.

Firstly, he claimed the wastewater treatment planned for the development is deficient and would pose a pollution risk to the nearby River Kiltha.

Mr Lumley said the site in question was outside the zoned land area of Castlemartyr but within the village development boundary.

“There is ample zoned land within the development boundary of Castlemartyr to accommodate housing development, particularly as the current level of land zoned for housing is in excess of sustainable development needs,” Mr Lumley said.

An Taisce added that the nursing home was located within an Architectural Conservation Area which was designated to include the original historic main street of the Georgian village and the adjacent Castlemartyr demesne.

Mr Lumley said the development would fly in the face of the Cork County Development Plan which requires new buildings to “respect the established historical and architectural character of the area”.

He added that the development would also contravene another objective in the County Development Plan, which states that nursing homes should be principally located within recognised settlements.