Objections to plans for new hostel in the heart of Cork city

Plans for a new hostel in a former tourist office in the heart of Cork city have been appealed to An Bórd Pleanala.

The developers themselves and Brittany Ferries, which runs an office in a nearby building, are among those to lodge appeals against the decision by Cork City Council to grant planning permission earlier this year for the development on the Grand Parade.

UK firm, Westhill, through an Irish subsidiary Bluescape Limited, was granted planning earlier this year to redevelop the former tourist office at 40-42 Grand Parade to provide 246 hostel bed spaces in 48 rooms over six floors in a new venue to be called Tourist House.

The large alteration and conservation project will also include a ground floor bar and a rooftop terrace.

Among the planning conditions was a requirement to remove the top floor of the proposed building in the interest of visual aesthetics and integration with the existing environment.

Westhill was also told to install windows facing onto the narrow Rochford Lane running alongside the building where the bar will be located to improve vibrancy and surveillance of the area.

Bluescape are now named as among those to have lodged appeals to An Bórd Pleanála. It is not clear if they are appealing the condition in relation to the elimination of the top floor.

Casey’s Furniture store, which had welcomed the redevelopment plans but also expressed serious concerns about the proposed ground-floor bar, is also amongst the objectors.

It has already pointed out that there are nine bars within 200m of the site and if the hostel bar goes proceed, it would result in a “serious over-predominance of bars within an area close to the primary retail area of the city”.

An Bórd Pleanala is expected to make a decision by the end of June.

Meanwhile, the decision to grant planning to the Munster Agriculture Society (MAS) for its ambitious RDS-style multi-purpose sports, exhibition and education facility on a portion of its Curraheen site, west of Cork city, has also been appealed to An Bórd Pleanála.

The MAS, which stages the Cork Summer Show, was granted conditional planning in January for various buildings to include exhibition halls with tiered seating, a restaurant and lounge with an outdoor terrace, as well as various office facilities.

But planners ruled that the complex, to be located just south of the N40 Ballincollig bypass, cannot be used as an examination hall.

The planning decision has now been appealed by local resident, Jeanette De Groot, who objected to the original planning application citing concerns about the construction of the facility in the green belt, about the buildings blocked their views and daylight, and about the possibility of flooding on the site.

The Bórd is due to issue a decision in early June.