This article is from page 2 of the 2012-12-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
CLARE County Council planners have said that there are “serious concerns” relating to the application by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to construct a car park in the shadow of Mullaghmore mountain, which has threatened to re-open interpretative centre controversy that dogged North Clare for over a decade.
The local authority has outlined these concerns to the NPWS this week in a direct request for more information about the car park plan because “the information submitted with this application is insufficient” for planners to make a judgement.
A decision on the planning permission was to be made by last Sunday, December 16, but this has now been deferred after the council’s senior staff officer in Planning and Enterprise Development Siobhan O’Reilly has that “serious concerns arise as regards the principle of the development as proposed at this site location within an area that is designated as a Special Area of Conservation”.
“Concerns arise that in the absence of a formal Conservation Management Plan for the Burren National Park, the development may be premature and may lead to piecemeal, uncoordinated development at this sensitive location,” Ms O’Reilly adds.
In its objection to the car park application at Knockaunroe, Corofin, submitted to Clare County Council in October, the Burren Action Group (BAG) said the development was “part of a process” that will eventually lead to the building of a visitor facility in the area.
BAG 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.
Now, council planners have made a number of requests from the NPWS before they will make a decision on the planning application. “It is considered that the content of the Conservation Management Plan for the Park would inform the planning process in terms of future plans for access management, visitor management and service provision at this location,” says Ms O’Reilly in her correspondence with NPWS. “As a management plan has not been prepared, it is considered that there is a shortfall in terms of information available,” she adds.
The NPWS have been asked to submit details of a timeframe for the completion of the Conservation Management Plan and this should include: a visitor management plan for the Burren National Park, a transport and access plan, future development plans for the area and details of the management plan.
In advance of a formal response to this request for further information, the NPWS has been invited to meeting with the planning authority, while Ms O’Reilly states that “the request for further information should not be construed as an indication of a positive decision”. Th e re will b e n o Wh ite Ch rist m a s t h is ye a r, wit h Ch rist m a s Day fo re c a st to be m ild a n d we t .