CLARE COUNTY Council yesterday gave the go-ahead for a Clare couple to demolish public toilets on a site overlooking Lahinch Bay they purchased for €400,000 two years ago.
Despite local opposition, the council granted planning permission to John and Breda Galvin to demolish the public toilets and replace them with two retail units and two apartments.
The council gave the plan the go-ahead having regard to the location of the site in Lahinch; the intended use of the proposed development; the policies of the development plan and the pattern of development in the area.
It ruled that the proposed development would not impinge on property in the vicinity and would be in accordance with the planning and sustainable development of the area.
At an auction at the Old Ground Hotel in June 2008, Mr Galvin paid the council €400,000 for the property “with unrivalled and unparalleled sea views”.
The plan faced a number of objections including one from the Lahinch Community Council whose chairman Donogh O’Loghlin said “the infrastructure, in particular the sewerage facilities, currently servicing Lahinch is inadequate and does not properly cater for the existing demands on those facilities”.
