This article is from page 4 of the 2008-06-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE County Council is propos- ing that the home of the Ennis man who sought over €500,000 for his objection against a €40 million resi- dential development to be withdrawn be included in the list for recorded Nea UCe AU Key
Last month, it emerged that John Madden of Glencairn House, En- nis sought €550,000 for himself to construct a flood defence system on his lands near to the proposal and a separate payment of €50,000 for Cahercalla Community Hospice to withdraw his appeal against a hous-
ing development at the Golf Links in J Spayavese
In the end, no money was handed over and as a result, the appeal was not withdrawn and planning permis- sion was refused by An Bord Pleana- la to the proposal.
In a submission to An Bord Pleana- la, solicitors for Mr Madden, Call- inan & Co told the appeals board that the Ennis man had no desire to profit from the matter and is not motivated by the desire for personal gain.
In a personal submission, Mr Mad- den stated that he has “no history of seeking compensation from any- body”, later adding that “my com-
mitment to the concerns of the wider community with regard to inappro- priate development in the locality is well documented”’.
Now, the council is proposing to include Mr Madden’s 17th century Glencairn House in the list of pro- tected structures, which will place additional contraints on a property owner in seeking to make any chang- es to his property.
Already, there are 526 Protected Structures in Ennis and as part of drawing up of the new draft Ennis and Environs Plan, the council is proposing to include Mr Madden’s home and four other properties.
Mr Madden’s house sits on a land- bank of 20 acres within the Ennis town boundary and the lands could be worth millions of euro if devel- oped.
To date, Mr Madden has chosen not to avail of any windfall from the sale of any of his lands at the site.
According to the council, the con- dition of the house is good and is or regional architectural, archaeologi- cal and historical importance.
The draft plan is set to go on pub- lic display in July in order that public submissions can be made and, there- after, the plan is due to be adopted in December.