Councillors in Killarney have unanimously backed a material alteration to extend the town’s settlement boundary and zone a large “visually sensitive site” on the Muckross Road for potentially large-scale housing.
The councillors are disputing objections by the Department of Housing and the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) about the site’s historic significance.
The 3.2 hectare site at Cahernane is designated as visually sensitive in the county development plan and is currently used for agriculture. The landowner had sought the zoning to residential for high-quality housing, a special meeting to finalise a new planning framework for Killarney was told.
The OPR and Department of Housing both made submissions against the proposal.
The site was of ” historic” significance and associated with the historic Cahernane House, (once home of the Herbert family and now the luxury Cahernane House Hotel), the Department of Housing said.
It said:
The proposed new residential zoning lies within the historic demesne associated with Cahernane House, which is included in the Record of Protected Structures.
“Cahernane Demesne has to date not been subject to any significant development and much of the demesne quality remains intact. The proposed new zoning is located in close proximity of Cahernane House, directly off the main avenue.”
It said more centrally located lands should be developed first to promote a compact town.
The Office of the Planning Regulator said “the rezoning of these sensitive lands” is contrary to the objectives of national and regional policies “and for these reasons cannot be supported by the OPR”.
However councillors said, in reality, the Cahernane demesne had been broken up long ago and no longer existed. The site was entirely separate to Cahernane House, was close to the town, alongside all the services, and facilities, and would provide much-needed private housing.
“There is no 2,000 acre estate,” Councillor Brendan Cronin (Ind) said. Cahernane House is in separate ownership.
He referred to two expert reports submitted on behalf of the owners, saying the land in question was not part of the protected Cahernane House Hotel; and had changed hands a number of times in between the 1840s and 1899 and again in the 1970s.
“The (Department of Housing ) statement that there’s a demesne is inaccurate and gives the perception of something very large and connected to a protected curtilage. It is basic agricultural land and the references to the demesne go back 150 years,” Mr Cronin said.
In a report, council management in Kerry urged councillors not to proceed with the alteration for lands in the periphery of the town and which were “outside the town boundary”. “Visually sensitive landscape areas comprise the outstanding landscape throughout the county.
“It is considered that a large residential development/estate at this location would not integrate and respect the visual quality of the landscape and that a significant quantum of land has been zoned in Killarney to facilitate residential development,” the chief executive’s report said.
It would take into account the new expert submissions, it said. However, the alteration was proposed by Mr Cronin was seconded by Councillor Niall O’Callaghan (Ind) and unanimously supported.
This report is funded by the Local Democracy Scheme