This article is from page 60 of the 2008-08-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 60 JPG
AN Ennis woman has moved to overturn a Clare County Council decision to refuse planning permis- sion for 16 luxury homes on a site she purchased for €1.8 million.
Last month, planning permission was refused to Therese McCarthy, a daughter of a well-known Ennis builder, Jack McCarthy, to construct 16 homes at Ballybeg on the out-
skirts of Ennis.
The purchase of the site was the sub- ject of a long-running legal wrangle that ended up in the Supreme Court which confirmed Ms McCarthy as the legal owner after she agreed to pay €1.8 million for the site.
Now in an appeal against the plan- ning refusal, Leahy and Conway Architects, on behalf of Ms McCa- rthy state that the reasons given for refusal of permission are “not sus-
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One of the reasons cited for refusal was the lack of sewage treatment to accommodate the scheme but Ms McCarthy claims that at a pre-plan- ning discussion with the council she was informed that there would be ca- pacity for an extra 20 houses within the existing sewage system.
‘There 1s a need in Ennis for larger houses with reasonable access to the town centre. There are many peo-
ple who have the desire to construct larger houses and it is important to make provision for them.
‘We think this approach is accepted by Clare County Council. We do not wish to develop a standard housing estate. We feel there is a need for the provision of the house type we pro- pose in the order of 2,500 to 3,500 square feet.
“We believe that the proposal now before An Bord Pleanala would be a
significant contribution to the devel- opment of Ennis in that it would pro- vide for a type of development which is recognized as being necessary and which will take pressure off demand for urban generated rural housing.
“Our site is contained entirely with- in zoned land and the development we propose is the most appropriate type of development for this site.
A decision is due on the appeal later this year.