Distillery planning set to be appealed

A COMMUNITY group has indicated their intention to appeal a decision by Cork County Council to grant permission for six warehouses that will be used for the maturation of whiskey in the rural setting of Tullig, near Reenascreena.

Calvin Jones, one of the group of people living in the area who were opposed to the application, confirmed Cork County Council wrote to everyone who had made a submission, opposing the proposed development by West Cork Distillers, informing them of their decision.

He noted that the Council gave the distillers permission to build six warehouses – out of the total of 12 that was requested – but even a 50% reduction is, he claimed, out of scale and not appropriate for a rural setting.

He said the planning application related to un-zoned agricultural land in Tullig and that the community ‘really feel let down by the Council and the planning process.

‘It feels as if we haven’t been heard,’ he said. ‘All of the valid points we made in regard to the planning application have not been heard.’

Mr Jones said the deadline for submissions to An Bord Pleanala is February 13th and that the community group had waited until this week to gauge what people wanted to do.

He confirmed they will be appealing the decision of the Council to grant conditional planning to the distillery, and will be examining each of the Council’s 43 conditions in great detail.

‘This,’ he said, ‘is an inappropriate industrial development in an area where it doesn’t belong and, from a community perspective, whether it is six or 12, it is the same level of disruption.’

The Southern Star contacted West Cork Distillers for a comment.