Architect succeeds in 5-year bid to build houses but not as holiday homes

A CLARE County Council policy of not allowing holiday homes to be built at tourist resorts “is akin to preventing the construction of a factory in an industrial estate”.

Businessman and architect Tom Byrne made the comment after his five-year long bid to build a terraced housing block overlooking Kilkee bay finally succeeded in the face of local opposition.

However, the development is conditional upon the homes only being used as principal places of permanent residence. The condition is in line with council policy. But Mr Byrne said yesterday it was perplexing, as Kilkee’s population was dropping and tourism was its only industry.

He said: “Kilkee is exclusively tourism-dependent and a condition such as this inhibits people making a living from tourism. The tourist season is so very short that those involved in providing employment through this industry are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.”

In giving the plan the go-ahead, the appeals board dismissed the recommendation of its own inspector to refuse planning permission for the development of eight homes at Atlantic View, Castlefield, Kilkee.

The appeals board refused two previous applications by Mr Byrne, while he withdrew a third plan. In relation to the fourth application, the appeals board stated that in deciding not to accept the inspector’s recommendation, it had regard to the town-centre location, adjacent to amenities, the site’s planning history, including ground levels, the access and parking provision and open space provision and considered that the proposal would result in an acceptable level of residential amenity for future occupants.

A number of locals had claimed the proposal was “not appropriate and will set an undesirable precedent, if permitted, resulting in continued disharmony in the locality”.