This article is from page 30 of the 2012-11-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
A PROPOSAL by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to build a car park on the edge of the site earmarked for the controversial Mullaghmore Interpretative Centre is “part of a process” that will eventually lead to the building of a visitor facility in the area.
This warning has been sounded out by the Burren Action Group (BAG) this week as part of its detailed submission to Clare County Council planners opposing the NPWS plans for the car park at Knockaunroe in the Burren National Park.
The 15-page document was lodged with the planning authority on Friday ahead of this Monday’s closing date for submissions. It has warned that the car park will “create a new set of risks” in the Burren – chief among these a covert plan of “induced development” designed to eventually bring about the building of visitor facilities at Gortalecka, the original site earmarked for the Mullaghmore Interpretative Centre.
The BAG submission highlights what it calls the “danger of incremental development at the core of the (National) Park”, saying that the planning application was the “thin end of the wedge” and precursor for further development.
“The proposal excludes the provision of toilet facilities, picnic tables etc., it is inevitable that a demand will be created for these facilities on the site in the near future,” the BAG submission states. “Consequently, future applications for extension of the car park and provision of such facilities are to be expected. The initial choice of this site for a car park may be seen as the ‘thin end of the wedge’ for future provision of visitor facilities on the Gortlecka site. It will inevitably create demand for further development at the core of the park,” it adds.
The proposed car park facility is on the proposed site for the overflow car park that was originally included in the ‘Gortlecka’ application, a move that has prompted the BAG to claim that the NPWS application is going against decisions handed down by An Bord Pleanála and Supreme Court.
“The NPWS were obliged, by Bord Pleanála and Court decisions, to restore and rehabilitate the Gortlecka site at very considerable cost to the NPWS and the taxpayer,” says the BAG submission. “Consequently, the current application seems contrary to the intent of previous An Bord Pleanála and court decisions,” it adds.