Clare County Council Requests Further Information

On 20 December 1996 Clare County Council requested further information from the Commissioners of Public Works in order to allow them to consider more fully the application for planning permission. The following is the text of the request:

20th December 1996

To: The Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to your application for permission for an Entry Point at Crag Road (CR 103), Gortlecka and Knockaunroe to the Burren National Park, comprising covered waiting area, toilets, ranger accommodation, ancillary parking, storage and signage. The Council is concerned at certain aspects of the proposed development and in order to enable the Council to consider the matter more fully the following additional information is required:

1. It is noted that it is proposed to remove elements of the effluent treatment facility at present on site and to remove partially treated effluent from site for disposal elsewhere. In order to enable the Council to consider this matter more fully please indicate:

   1. why elements of the effluent treatment facility are proposed for removal in view of the effluent discharge licence which has been granted by the Council and by An Bord Pleanala on appeal.
   2. Details of the location of the disposal point of the treated effluent. If this is to be a Council effluent treatment facility, please submit evidence of the Council's agreement to accept such effluent. You should note that the letter submitted with the application in this regard is not considered to be an adequate indication of such agreement.
   3. Please submit your proposals for ensuring that the transport of the effluent from the site to a remote location will not give rise to amenity and/or health impacts either through odour or spillages on the public road.
   4. If it is proposed to discharge effluent other than to a Council treatment plant, please indicate the nature and location of such disposal.
   5. Please indicate the function of the irrigation area shown on page 10 of document 1.
   6. Please indicate the proposals for the treatment and disposal of sludge from the proposed effluent treatment facility.

2. It is noted that the application appears to be made in the context of the Draft Park Management Plan and the Draft Strategy for North Clare prepared for the Minister of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht and which are referred to in the documentation supporting the application. A fundamental element of the strategy is that a network should be provided at Gortlecka, Corofin, Kilfenora and Ballyvaughan and that such provisions would form an integrated totality. In this context, it is difficult to consider the proposed development alone as no indication has been given of the scale, nature or timing of the provision of facilities at the other three centres. This has implications for the management of visitors to the National Park as well as to the North Clare area as a whole and is likely to be a factor affecting the scale and nature of visitor movement to the facility proposed in this application.
   In order to enable the Council to consider this matter more fully, please indicate:

   1. The nature and scale of development proposed at other locations.
   2. Proposals for integrating the management of the network of facilities.
   3. The timescale for the provision of the facility the subject of this application and other facilities.
   4. The degree to which the applicant intends to participate in the provision and management of the network of facilities.

3. It is noted in the documentation submitted with the application that a maximum of 400 visitors per day or 35,000 visitors per year are likely to visit the site. It is also acknowledged that:

   1. the management of visitor numbers will require the implementation of tourism development proposals as set out in the Draft Strategy for North Clare and
   2. that it is difficult to predict visitor numbers.
   
   With regard to (a) please indicate your proposals for implementing tourism proposals as outlined in the Draft Plan.
   With regard to (b) please indicate your proposals for managing visitor numbers to the site in the event of the discouragement measures outlined in the report not being effective.

4. It is noted that it is proposed to totally dismantle the work carried out to date on the overflow car park for the proposed development.
   Please indicate:

   1. why such dismantling is proposed and
   2. your proposals for managing car parking in the event of parking demand exceeding the provision being made in the main car park.

5. It is noted that bus parking will not be permitted on site and that no provision is being made for same. The Council is not satisfied that it will be possible to prevent buses from travelling to the site. In order to enable the Council to consider this matter more fully, please indicate:

   1. how it is proposed to manage bus traffic which may travel to the site as the council is concerned that an absence of bus parking on site will give rise to unacceptable parking of such vehicles on the public road.

6. It is noted from the submitted documentation that the applicant understands that 'Clare County Council intends to improve the access road.....'. This, in fact, is not the case. In the event of the proposed development going ahead, the Council will require that the road be upgraded to the standard necessary to carry anticipated traffic loads and to facilitate local domestic and agricultural traffic movement.
   Please indicate whether funds are available to enable the required road works to take place and confirm that the funds will be made available$to the Local Authority to carry out these works.

7. It has been represented to the Council that the proposed development will have a negative impact on areas likely to be designated as Natural Heritage Areas and Special Areas of Conservation.
   Please indicate the areas of the National Park in the vicinity of the proposed development which are proposed for such designation and the relationship of such areas to proposed walkways.

8. Reference is made to a number of reports and studies and references to submissions including:

   • The Burren National Park Draft Management Plan
   • The Draft Strategy for the North Clare Area
   • Previous Studies of Socio Economic Impacts.
   
   Please indicate the status of these documents and the degree to which they are being relied upon to support the current application. In the event that they are being put forward in support of or as providing a context for the application, please submit copies of the documents for consideration.
   In the event that they are not being put forward in this manner, please indicate the basis on which reference to items or quotations from them should be considered by the Planning Authority.

On receipt of a reply, further consideration will be given to your application.

Yours Faithfully.

JOE DELANY, S.O.
PLANNING

Comments to burrenag@iol.ie

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