This article is from page 14 of the 2008-05-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
ENNIS is to get a new bridge across the River Fergus as part of a major development by a Galway company which has just got the go-ahead from Ennis Town Council.
Briarlane Development secured planning permission for a major ex- tension to the Abbey Hostel near the existing Club Bridge. The company iS proposing the construction of a
footbridge across the River Fergus to link the development to the Abbey Street car-park.
As part of a four-floor structure, the developers plan a 120-bunk bed extension to the existing hostel building. The development is to also include a restaurant, an internet café and a wine bar with all ancillary oats one
The extended hostel is expected to fill a gap in the local tourist market
where, currently, there are no hostel spaces for independent tourists.
The Briarlane project faced no local opposition and the company was able to satisfy concerns that the Depart- ment of the Environment expressed over otters in the River Fergus.
The granting of planning permis- sion five years after the company first sought to develop the strategic site adjacent to the River Fergus follows a decision by An Bord Pleanala last
year to refuse planning for a project that promised to transform the Ennis skyline as part of a €25 million riv- erside development.
Early last year, Ennis Town Council gave the go-ahead for the ambitious project in spite of warnings from Clare’s Conservation Officer that the plan had the potential to do “ir- reparable damage to a very attractive and uniquely ancient county town”.
The council chose to ignore Con- servation Officer Risteard UaCron- in’s warning that “the design of the proposed development 1s neither con- temporary nor innovative and reflects large city suburban developments of the 1970s and 1980s, many of which are presently being demolished”.
But his stance was endorsed last September by the appeals board which ruled that the proposal would seriously injure the visual amenities of the area and the character of the architectural heritage area.
The development involved a six- storey building opposite the Abbey Street car-park arranged around a central podium and included a plan to develop a 30-bedroom hotel, 58 apartments and a pedestrian bridge across the River Fergus.
The board also ruled that one of the apartment blocks would provide poor quality accommodation and serious- ly injure the residential amenities of future occupants and of property in the vicinity.