This article is from page 10 of the 2008-04-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
A GROUP of locals in Liscannor has warned Clare County Council not to repeat the planning mistakes made in other coastal areas.
The residents, who are opposing plans by Atlantis Developments for a mixed use development on the village’s main street, including the redevelopment of Joseph McHugh’s and Egans’ pubs, state that the coun-
cil needs to draw up a strategic de- velopment plan for the village before any more tourism based development is granted.
“It 1s apparent that over-develop- ment has already taken place in Lis- cannor and the council should be taking steps to stop it from causing irrevocable damage to the village character,” they state.
“It is now at the stage where a small cottage in Liscannor has an asking
price of €1.5 million. How can local people expect to afford a site or home when prices have reached this hugely inflated level?”
The Atlantis Development plan includes a 14-bed hostel, five-two bedroom apartments, four retail units and the two large extensions to McHugh’s and Egans.
Atlantis Development also has ap- plications for park and ride parks in Liscannor and Doolin and decisions
on all three applications are expected later this month.
The local residents state, ““Let us not forget the Holland Park development — directly opposite the site — which included commercial units along the front facade. All but two of these are empty, 1n poor repair and some have been converted to residential units.”
The residents continue, “Liscannor is a small coastal village that caters for both permanent and seasonal residents. However, the excessive fra- tio of seasonal versus permanent ac- commodation is greatly deteriorating the fabric of the community.
‘Apartments, more akin to the re- quirements of towns and cities where space is at a premium, are not justi- fiable is a small village like Liscan- nor. The only reason for apartments in such a small village is to maxim- ise profitability at the expense of the architectural setting of the receiving village.”
The residents state that currently, the ratio of holiday homes to perma- nent residences in approximately 7:1 and this figures is even higher from the church to Knockaderry where it is in excess of 10:1.
They residents claim they have been for far too long subjected to the eradual and saddening deterioration in the fabric in the community. “This has taken place by developers being given free reign to build whatever they wish wherever they wish.”