Blarney Woollen Mills owner appeals rejection of major development

The plans provide for a new 80-bed hotel, a Lidl supermarket with an off-licence and café as well as a commercial building containing a restaurant/delicatessen, shop and hair/beauty salon, together with offices and 70 apartments. Picture: Denis Minihane.

The owner of Blarney Woollen Mills is seeking to overturn a recent decision to block its plans for a major regeneration of a large site within a short distance of Blarney Castle in Cork.

Irish Conference and Leisure Holdings (ICLH), which is part of the Blarney Group headed by businesswoman Freda Hayes, is appealing the recent decision by Cork City Council to refuse planning permission for a large mixed-use development on the site of the former Blarney Park Hotel in the village.

The plans provide for a new 80-bed hotel, a Lidl supermarket with an off-licence and café as well as a commercial building containing a restaurant/delicatessen, shop and hair/beauty salon, together with offices and 70 apartments.

ICLH said the plans would protect and enhance the existing character of the area without compromising the views of Blarney Castle as well as promoting social and cultural amenities and encouraging the development of a vibrant community spirit.

Similar plans for a smaller mixed-used development were refused in 2014, while a proposal for a primary healthcare centre on the site was rejected last year.

While the principle of a hotel on the site was acceptable, council planners said the proposed four-storey building would have a detrimental impact on Blarney Castle and estate. 

They ruled that the overall scheme represented “excessive overdevelopment of a sensitive site” and was “substandard” as well as being “visually obtrusive” and “out of character” with the surrounding area.

Blarney Castle estate opposed the proposed development, claiming it would have a harmful impact on the tourist attraction because of its negative impact on views to and from the castle,

The council said it was not satisfied that such a sensitive site was a suitable location for a supermarket, while also concerned it would create unacceptable levels of traffic congestion in the area.

The proposed development has been opposed by the Blarney Castle estate which claimed it would have a harmful impact on the tourist attraction because of its negative impact on views to and from the castle, its gardens and the village’s historic centre.

The Irish Georgian Society also warned the excessive scale of the development would have an adverse effect on views of the castle which it described as “a protected structure of national importance”.

However, the proposed development has received support from Blarney GAA Club, Blarney Community Council and Brand Blarney.

An Taisce claimed the proposed hotel was appropriate but claimed the supermarket was “problematic”.

A decision by An Bord Pleanála on the appeal is due by mid-May.