The owners of the Inner Lodge on the grounds of Straffan House at the K Club in Co Kildare are appealing planning permission for a residential development in the walled garden of Straffan House, a protected structure, which they say is within the curtilage of the inner lodge.

Kildare County Council granted the K Club, which is owned by Michael Smurfit and Gerry Gannon, planning permission for 20 two-storey terraced houses with 30 car-parking spaces. There are currently around 150 houses and apartments at the club.

However, in their appeal to An Bord Pleanála, Sheldon Mintzberg and Carmele McGeary say the proposed development will represent "an unrelieved terrace facade and unbroken roofline as a backdrop to the current rural setting of the inner lodge" and say it sits uncomfortably with the walled garden.

Sheldon Mintzberg is chairman, chief executive officer and founder of the Montreal-based Marine Group which is involved in real estate and property management.

The Mintzbergs bought the Inner Lodge, an estate house south of the walled garden, a decade ago and say the requisitions on title furnished during the sale process stated that the section of the walled garden bounding the inner lodge belonged to their property.

They got permission from Kildare County Council to extend the lodge as a family home and say that, when this is finished, the proposed development will be only 7.5 metres from their property and there will be problems with overlooking and overshadowing. They contend that the club was asked by the council to submit a master plan, capping development as the basis for assessment of any future proposal for the demesne, but has so far failed to do so.