Inchydoney Island scheme appealed

The west Cork Green Party is one of three appellants to An Bord Pleanála against a scheme of 31 homes proposed for Inchydoney Island in Co Cork.

The party says the development - made up of 17 holiday homes and 14 permanent dwellings - is inappropriate for the island which is part of the Clonakilty Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and is also a Special Protected Area (SPC) under the Ramsar Convention which designates it as an important feeding and roosting site for birds.

John Fleming Construction, which owns the Inchydoney Hotel and Spa Resort, is also looking to build a new public roadway on the island. While the developer initially sought to build 45 holiday homes, it subsequently reduced that number and designated 14 houses as permanent dwellings.

However, the Green Party says that the condition that some of the houses are for people living on the island all year round "is almost impossible to enforce" and these units will be "outside the reach of those most in need of housing in the area".

According to the Green Party, a local survey found that only 13 per cent of homes on the island are occupied year round, with the remainder being holiday homes or second homes.

The Green Party appeal expressed concern about an amendment to the zoning of the site in September 2005 by the local authority which allows for two-storey dwellings, where it had previously only considered single storey units. It said that overdevelopment in Clonakilty town had led to an overload of effluent in the town system which has caused pollution in the bay.

Another issue in the appeal is that the proposed roadway and roundabout would negatively impact on the visual beauty of the area, which is used by birdwatchers, walkers and pony trekkers.

The other appellants to the development are Traolach Ó Donnabháin and Aideen O'Leary and others.