AN Bord Pleanála’s decision to quash the planning granted by Cork County Council to West Cork Distillers to build six maturation warehouses at Tullig, near Rosscarbery, may become the subject of a judicial review.
A planning application to build 12 warehouses at Tullig was first lodged with Cork County Council in July 2021, but it met with local opposition from The Tullig and Reenascreena Community Group, which calls itself ‘Save Tullig.’
It was in January 2023 that the Council decided to give the distillers permission to build six warehouses, instead of 12.
In planning files, the company said that it urgently needs to expand its maturation storage capacity, as all existing warehouses at its Skibbereen distillery are at capacity.
Local authority planners held that the development would contribute to the rural economy and that directing this type of development into zoned lands would result in an inefficient use of serviced zoned lands.
The planner also found that it would not give rise to an unacceptable impact on the landscape; would not seriously injure residential amenities of the area; would not cause unacceptable traffic hazards; and would not seriously impact ecological habitats or species.
The Save Tullig group did not agree with the Council’s planners and immediately appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála.
At the time, a Save Tullig spokesperson, Calvin Jones, said an online petition to stop the development going ahead was signed by more than 1,300 people.
He said: ‘That level of objection, plus the 132 residents who signed the objection document in such a relatively lowly populated area, warrants serious consideration by the Bord. ‘Ordinary people rely on the planning authority to shield them from inappropriate commercial developments like this one in un-zoned rural locations,’ he added.
It is understood that the six-warehouse development – which would be 17km from the company’s base of operations at Marsh Road, Skibbereen – had a total floor area of 9,180m², an overall height of 11.45m, as well as a service building, security fencing and boundary works.
Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) also submitted a detailed objection to the planning application for the development of a site that is ‘in open countryside’ at Reenascreena, which is located 6km north of Leap village
FIE director Tony Lowes said the problem at Tullig is compounded by the fact that the site contains 11.9 hectares of wetland.
‘All wetlands, whether designated for protection or not, are specifically cited for restoration under the forthcoming European Green Deal,’ he stated at the time.
Two years later, in February of this year, An Bord Pleanála announced it had overturned the Council’s decision, thereby refusing permission for the rural warehouses.
In its ruling, An Bord Pleanála stated: ‘It is considered that the proposal represents an inappropriate form of development that cannot be sustained in this rural area, and the HGV trips generated on this substandard rural road network would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and obstruction of other road users. The proposed development would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.’
The board said it had taken into account ‘the nature, scale and number of the proposed warehouses’ and the proposed use ‘which is not linked to the immediate area’.
The Bord also took into account ‘the site location in a rural area on un-zoned land with limited services. In particular, accessed off a local road network of limited width, as evidenced in the need to provide for six number passing bays on this local road to facilitate the development’.
Now, as reported in The Currency, West Cork Distillers has filed a judicial review case against An Bord Pleanála over its decision to quash planning for the maturation warehouses.
A spokesperson for An Bord Pleanála told The Currency it had ‘no comment to make on this judicial review application as it is now a matter for the High Court.’
West Cork Distillers have been contacted for comment. No response was received at the time of going to print.
