An Board Pleanála has refused permission for the construction of eight permanent residential apartments in a picturesque area of Co Donegal.
The entire Downings development plan has been rejected including not only the construction of eight apartments at Trabeg, Larganreagh and Downings but also the demolition of an existing dwelling house.
Elaine Lambie, c/o Adame Leadley Architects of New Line Road, Letterkeny, initially presented this project to the Donegal County Council, which accepted it.
However, a group campaigning against the local authority decision appealed to An Board Pleanála (ABP) and the construction plan was refused after considering different factors around the project and its consequences.
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Udaras na Gaeltachta had already expressed concerns in relation to the impact of the project on the use of the Irish language in the area.
For this reason, it had requested a linguistic condition to be added to the construction plans bid.
Besides the impact on the linguistics and cultural heritage of the area, there were also objections on other issues, such as scale of development, traffic impact, open space and car parking provision and the planning history for the site.
They also considered the transparency of the application, future maintenance and management, flooding and the design of scheme.
The architects responded stating that issues relating to previous applications on this site were irrelevant and that the County Manager had previously addressed issues relating to ownership.
They added that at that moment, the inspector didn't consider traffic safety as an issue and said the proposal will result in a gain for the local community by way of an improved junction and construction of a public footpath.
According to them, car parking was absolutely adequate for the apartments to be used for permanent occupation and had already been amended after previous applications in order to be fit for purpose.
Despite all these arguments, an ABP inspector did another revision and refused permission under the Planning and Development Acts and Regulations.
(CL/BMcC)
