This article is from page 11 of the 2007-08-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
THE developers of a proposed hous- ing development in the north Clare resort of Lahinch have argued that it is not viable to retain the route of the West Clare Railway that lies close to the development.
A decision is expected this week on plans by Patricia Stackpoole for 10 homes on Station Road in Lahinch.
However, the council has already expressed concerns over the scheme’s impact on the West Clare Railway.
Last year, the impact a housing de- velopment in Lahinch could have on the defunct railway line was one of the reasons the council refused plan- ning permission for the development.
However, the decision was over- turned by An Bord Pleanala. In its request for further information from Ms Stackepoole, the council pointed out that it is policy to only permit de- velopment on or adjacent to the west Clare plan that will not conflict with the policy.
The council states, “The proposed
plan includes a number of building units and their rear gardens to be built over the line of the West Clare Railway. Please address this matter by way of revised proposals.”
In response, consultants for Ms Stackepoole state, “The line of the railway to the east and west of the site..has been fully obscured and built over by numerous different ownerships for an extensive period of time. The rationale of maintaining the area of that line traversing the site does not therefore appear to be
viable.”
Already, the proposal has attracted a lot of local opposition and the ul- timate arbiters of the merits of the application look set to be An Bord Pleanala. The developers will be en- couraged that the board cast aside the reason to refuse on the basis of the impact on the West Clare Rail- way in a recent decision.
In one of the objections that reflects local feeling over the plan, Marie O’Donoghue states, “Lahinch is a seaside village and haphazard back-
land development of this nature and size…1S not in keeping with the char- acter of the village and detrimental to the life of the elderly residents ad- jacent to it.
“The proposed development will cause serious disruption to the eld- erly residents adjacent to it and, in particular, during the construction as it is proposed that all site machinery and construction works access will be through the proposed walkway which is between two houses of long- term residents of Station Road.”