West Cork hotel claims planning refusal for seven-bedroom extension 'completely illogical'
West Cork Hotel claims providing additional car parking spaces at such a location for such a modest development is 'unnecessary and wholly inappropriate'.
The owners of a well-known hotel in West Cork claim the decision of Cork County Council to refuse them planning permission for a new extension is “completely illogical.”
The West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála against the council’s rejection of its plans for an extension to provide an additional seven bedrooms and hotel office.
The proposal would result in the total bedroom capacity of the hotel on Ilen Street increasing from 50 to 57.
However, the council claimed the project did not provide adequate off-road parking facilities to serve the proposed development.
Council planners claimed on-road parking and traffic movements that would be generated by the extended hotel would interfere with the free flow of traffic in the area and endanger public safety.
In the appeal, consultants for the hotel’s owners claim the council’s decision was incorrectly based on the 2014 Cork County Development Plan.
They argue the latest plan, which was adopted earlier this year at the time of the council’s decision, contains an objective to reduce and minimise car parking and incentivise development on infill town centre sites.
The hotel claims providing additional car parking spaces at such a location for such a modest development is “unnecessary and wholly inappropriate”.
It also pointed out the new county development plan identifies a need for additional hotel accommodation in Skibbereen.
“We firmly believe that the hotel extension will make a very positive contribution to tourism accommodation in Skibbereen and will not result in a traffic hazard or have a negative impact on the amenities of the area,” it added.
Although the hotel indicated it could provide a new car park off-site to the southeast of the hotel to address the council’s concerns, the local authority claimed such a proposal was unacceptable and outside the scope of the planning application.
The West Cork Hotel also noted it already provided 54 car parking spaces within the hotel’s grounds.
The hotel claimed it was “completely illogical” for the council to adopt a new policy of developing additional hotel accommodation in Skibbereen and at the same time refuse planning permission for additional hotel rooms in the town centre.
A ruling by An Bord Pleanála on the hotel’s appeal is due by November 21.
