A proposal to construct a village at a crossroads near Killarney has been refused permission by An Bord Pleanála amid fears for an important local salmon spawning river.
The scheme of 73 houses, seven retail units, a hotel, apartments and a waste-water treatment plant at Listry Cross, about 8½ kms from Killarney had been granted partial planning permission by Kerry County Council.
However, the grant was appealed by third parties who claimed the development on what was mainly grazing land would affect the floodplain and water levels of the river, the Gweestin.
The South Western Regional Fisheries Board also expressed concerns about the effect of the development on water quality in what it said was one of the main salmonoid rivers and tributaries of the River Laune.
The townlands of Faha and Listry along the main regional road linking Killarney with Milltown and Dingle have seen much building in recent years.
Scattered one-off houses as well as large houses in cluster-type developments dominate much of the agricultural land overlooked by the Macgillycuddy's Reeks. Apart from a church in Listry, the townlands have no defined nucleus, and a recent county development plan identified the area as needing services and a core village area.
This application for the 13-acre site by Don Culloty and Seán Doolan, c/o a Killarney consultant engineer's office, was first lodged two years ago.
The council granted permission for the hotel and half the houses, refusing the retail units, apartments and the remainder of the houses because of design and layout. The decision was appealed last March.
Bord Pleanála's inspector Roy Curnow said the principle of the development was not an issue.
"The council has approved a similar form of development on the land previously and, more importantly, this form of development is advocated in the Listry/Faha Local Area Plan."
However, he recommended against the development because of layout - a mixed-use streetscape was needed and because of the threat to the Gweestin river.
It was "imperative that the proposal should not harm the river or contribute to or exacerbate flooding in the area", and the applicants needed to carry out further work "to show the development would not harm the river".
The board said that "given the high water table on the site" it was not satisfied the scheme would not give rise to an unacceptable risk of pollution of ground water.