Youghal cancer support centre gets go-ahead for expansion

The present cancer support centre in Youghal is a converted bed & breakfast on Friar Street.

An Bord Pleanála has given the green light for a cancer support centre in East Cork to be demolished and replaced by a larger facility on the same site.

The planning board dismissed objections from local residents in Youghal to planning granted by Cork County Council and also bypassed the recommendation of its own inspector.

The present two-storey facility is a converted bed & breakfast on Friar Street and provides counselling, advice and holistic treatments such as aromatherapy and massage to those affected directly and indirectly by cancer. It is staffed almost exclusively by up to 30 volunteers.

The building’s purchase for €235,000 in 2016 followed a five-year fundraising drive that included a celebrity livestock auction in Dungarvan, attended by luminaries like Ryan Turbridy and TV presenter Maura Derrane.

The building is now understood to be unsuitable for its purpose, with one source citing a defective central heating system as being partly inoperable and economically beyond repair.

The Youghal branch was initially affiliated to the Cork ARC support service, but went alone from 2018 when signalling that it wanted its fundraising revenue designated exclusively at source rather than to a central pot.

The Youghal Cancer Support Centre’s last registration on the charities regulator website relates to July 2021, with assets totalling €6,673 and liabilities of €20,558.

However, there is also a Youghal Cancer Support Company limited by guarantee registered from the same address at 29 Friar Street from 2019. It is understood that the service has now reverted to being a registered charity.

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Under the new development parking facilities to the rear of the current building will no longer exist, while bicycle parking is to be implemented. Roof and interior gardens are also to be incorporated, along with other landscape works.

The local Strand Street and Mall Residents Committee’s appeal to An Bord Pleanála centred largely on parking and traffic issues, along with the architectural suitability of the proposed building to the streetscape and fears that construction work may undermine an adjacent former cinema that is in substantial decline.

Dismissing these concerns, the planning board decreed that changes effected under a request for further information had demonstrated “due regard” for the neighbouring properties.

Delivering its ruling under 13 conditions, An Bord Pleanála found that, subject to compliance with the planning conditions, the development would “be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”. A spokesperson for the residents said it didn’t wish to comment at this time.