Bill Enright Limited, in collaboration with Concept Design, has secured conditional planning permission from Cork County Council for a large development at its plant hire business site in Hollyhill in Bantry.
BY TILLY ROBERTS
The development includes three conjoined bonded warehouses covering 2,967 square metres and reaching a height of 10.9 metres, along with a fire pump building, a firefighting tank, and a firewater retention and attenuation pond.
However, since the permission was granted, an appeal has been filed, with no details as yet available from either Cork County Council or An Bord Pleanála.
According to the primary planners’ report, the warehouses will be ‘77.34% larger than the Drinagh Hardware Store’ situated 780 metres along the same road.
They will be used for whiskey maturation, and leased out long-term by the development owner.
The existing plant hire business will continue to operate as usual.
The warehouses will occupy the northernmost part of the site, at least 95 metres from the N71 National Road entrance, and the development will include new internal roads, security fencing, and associated works.
Two objections were submitted to Cork County Council, including one from Wild Ireland Defence CLG citing the site’s proximity – less than 0.5km –from Glengarriff and Woodlands Harbour, requesting an Appropriate Assessment under the EU Habitats Directive.
Other concerns raised included the likelihood of increased heavy goods traffic onto the 100kmph N71 (which lacks a dedicated turning lane), visual impacts on the landscape, and the absence of landscaping.
Initial planners’ reports recommended refusing planning permission, citing the site’s elevated location within Bantry’s Town Greenbelt and High Value Landscape area.
Planners also mentioned that the scale and bulk of the warehouses could potentially damage the area’s scenic quality and raised traffic safety concerns due to the site’s access directly onto the busy N71 road.
Following a request for further information from Cork County Council, the applicant submitted revised plans featuring native species landscaping, photomontages showing screening over time, 215-metre sightlines at the site entrance, a Traffic and Transport Assessment, and a Road Safety Audit.
Cork County Council ultimately granted conditional approval in early April.
The planners noted that while valid road safety and visual impact concerns were raised, no environmental, ecological, or archaeological objections were found.
Furthermore, according to the decision maker’s report, the site’s current use as a commercial enterprise on a brownfield site ‘largely negates the fact that it is within a greenbelt’.
The report also noted that ‘the applicant would appear to have satisfactorily addressed the matters raised in the request for further information’, which included a Traffic and Transport Assessment, alongside a Road Safety Audit, which stated that any impacts on traffic would be ‘minor and below thresholds’.
Cork County Council’s planning permission comes with strict conditions including, implementing a landscaping plan, improving drainage, and managing construction to minimise disruption, including off-road parking for all construction vehicles and preventing debris on public roads.
The warehouses are restricted to bonded warehouse use only.
A contribution of €48,656.45 towards public infrastructure upgrades is also required by the applicant.
The council concluded that these conditions imposed would mitigate the development’s impact on the surrounding landscape and traffic in the immediate and long term.
