Effects of tax-designated development cause concern in Tramore

How was tax-designated development for your favourite seaside resort? Tramore is left pondering if building a plethora of holiday apartments was the best way to regeneration, writes Carol Duffy.

With its population having increased by a quarter in the past six years to more than 8,000, Tramore is a town where the social and physical infrastructure is struggling to keep pace with housing development.

Considerable attention has focused of late on the additional pressures created by the presence of more than 270 asylum-seekers and refugees in the resort.

But of more long-term significance, there is growing concern in Tramore about the "legacy" left by the hundreds of units of holiday accommodation built in recent years for investors, who drew down considerable tax relief on their capital investment and rental income, but whose medium to long-term interest in the town is questionable.

A €20 million sewerage scheme should eliminate existing discharges of untreated sewage and result in improved water quality off the famous beach but, while this represents progress, there is still much to do before the town can look forward to a sustainable future. For her part, the chairwoman of the Tramore Development Trust, Ms Anne Harpur, is committed with her fellow trustees to helping make Tramore a more vibrant town both commercially and socially.

While Ms Harpur, an architect by profession, believes a number of Tramore's holiday home complexes fit in reasonably well visually, she does have reservations about the developments.

"I believe in a town growing naturally and planning policy should allow for a place to grow organically. Any development that is tax-driven inevitably leads to higher densities. A mixed development is a better approach, so that there is not a divide between the town and the tourist."

However, her fellow trustee, Mr John Smiles, is reluctant to bite the hand that, he says, feeds the town. "The benefit of the holiday homes was that they brought people in to the town and improved the quality of accommodation available here. Without people coming to the amusements and the beach, the town would not be economically viable."

Ms Harpur adds: "Tramore has a lot more to offer than the hurdy-gurdies. We have great cliff walks, places of historical and geological interest as well as the back strand, which is a conservation area of special interest with huge potential for providing alternatives to visitors once it is properly managed."

One man with a strong personal interest in Tramore is the London-based music promoter and restaurateur, Mr Vince Power, who spends as much as possible of each summer in the Tramore/Annestown area.

"Tramore has always been associated with amusements, sunshine and chips and I remember spending a lot of my childhood here," he says. "But in order to develop the town we must look at the bigger picture. While there is a place for the amusements and the budget accommodation that goes with it, we need to develop other facilities."

Mr Power, who is a shareholder in the South entertainment venue and the Waterford and Tramore Racecourse, says that to develop year-round tourism business, visitors must be provided with a greater range of all-weather activities and a better spread of accommodation.

"Somebody needs to come in and oversee the development of the town and, with local assistance, plan where Tramore should go. We have huge potential and could have a mix of holidaymakers if we want to, catering for those who seek the amusements and those who look for other facilities. It is encouraging to see a new restaurant in the town called Coast, which is a really nice place aimed at the upper end of the market."

Planning in Tramore is the responsibility of Waterford County Council. Director of planning and environmental services, Mr Denis McCarthy, acknowledges a move towards the provision of hotel complexes rather than holiday homes that are now less attractive from a tax-avoidance perspective.

"The council has not received a planning application for holiday apartments for a considerable time and that may be related to the fact that the tax incentives on them are running out. However, outline planning permission has been granted for a hotel at the end of the promenade and we are currently processing an application for hotel and leisure facilities at Railway Square in Tramore. We would prefer a hotel complex that would provide a wide range of services rather than simply rooms.

"The application at Railway Square includes retail units as well as a cinema so it could service tourists and provide a leisure facility for locals. We have zoned lands to allow for commercial development but there doesn't seem a great appetite to take this up."

Local auctioneer Mr Des Purcell of Sherry FitzGerald Purcell believes there has been an overall improvement in the standard of accommodation, which is critical to a modern resort. "Prior to the construction of holiday homes and apartment complexes, the most popular choice of accommodation in Tramore was caravans. Now visitors have holiday homes and apartments with all mod-cons and these have definitely improved the quality of accommodation available."

Progressive Democrats town councillor Mr Michael Flynn, who is leaving local politics to concentrate on his business interests, recalls the frustrations experienced while trying to improve Tramore's identity and image. "We are seen as a hurdy-gurdy town and we haven't moved forward with our product in the way other seaside towns have. In the past 20 years there have been a few new bits and pieces but we need to upgrade the whole package. We want something more than the amusements and should be working to attract the upper end of the tourism market."

On the plethora of tax-designated holiday homes and apartments in the town over the past decade, Mr Flynn says many of the investors involved have no interest in the town's development and may not even be aware of where exactly their properties are located.

"We have seen hundreds of holiday homes and apartments built but they haven't added to Tramore. We don't see an improvement in the community facilities. Investors bought the apartments for tax reasons but most don't have any link to the community and are not concerned with the future of the town."