This article is from page 14 of the 2005-08-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
AN Ennis businessman will not be able to start work on ambitious plans to convert the well-known Edenvale House residence into a luxury guesthouse until April of next year.
This is due to the presence of rare protected bats on the 18th TACT YAS Ikon
Clare County Council has at- tached a number of measures to ensure the continued conserva- tion of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat, to its decision to grant planning permission to Martin Cullinan c/o Club Dangan, Ennis to trans- form the historic house into a guesthouse.
The site is of international 1m-
portance to the conservation of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat and Edenvale House is part of a Spe- cial Area of Conservation (SAC), due to having a large number of the protected bats at three dif- ferent locations in the area at Edenvale cave, Newhall cave and Edenvale house farm buildings.
According to an expert report, the two cave systems in winter contain more than 5% of the na- tional population in winter, while the number of Lesser Horseshoe bats found in the SAC during the most recent survey last January was 388.
In his plan, Mr Cullinan is also seeking to extend the main house, which is a protected structure.
In granting Mr Cullinan per-
mission, the Council has ruled that he cannot carry out any de- velopment works between Octo- ber and March inclusive to avoid any impacts on the bat popula- tion or on their breeding season.
With receipt of the Council’s decision, Mr Cullinan must now wait four weeks before the final grant of permission allowing time for any appeals to An Bord Pleanala to be lodged.
This ensures that no works can commence until next April at the earliest if there is no appeal to An Bord Pleanala.
Mr Cullinan also has to submit to the Council prior to the com- mencement of development full details of all conservation meas- ures.