The landscape protection zone around internationally important Headfort House, outside Kells, Co Meath, will be substantially reduced if Meath County Council ratifies an amendment to its draft development plan.
The original draft sought to protect 299 hectares (718 acres) around the house, which has been a private prep school for more than 50 years, by designating it as an Architectural Conservation Area (ACA), where development would be strictly controlled.
However, an amendment tabled by Cllr John Farrelly, former Fine Gael TD for Meath, would reduce the protected zone to just 24 hectares (58 acres) in the immediate vicinity of the house. Even its old stables, converted to housing in 2000, would be excluded.
The amendment was adopted by 14 votes to three by the council at one of its recent meetings on the draft development plan, but it then had to go to public consultation along with other changes. Yesterday was the last day for making submissions on the amended draft.
Headfort House, which dates from 1770, contains highly regarded neo-classical interiors by Robert Adam. The school has received €680,000 in funding from the Heritage Council in recent years, as well as aid for conservation works from the World Monuments Fund.
The grounds contain many rare trees and plants, including the best collection of rhododendrons and azaleas in Ireland. The Headfort Golf Club occupies land that once formed part of the estate, and the river Blackwater runs through it.
However, the school owns only the house itself and a relatively small area surrounding it - some 24 hectares. The remainder of the land is owned by a number of landowners, including John Sheridan, a wealthy farmer with other business interests in the Kells area.
Last December, at a meeting arranged by Cllr Farrelly, who runs an estate agency as part of the Remax chain, it is understood that Mr Sheridan offered Headfort School €1 million towards its restoration fund if it did not object to the reduced ACA proposal.
It is understood that plans are being drawn up for a development of some 24 houses in the area adjoining the stableyards, which were renovated by Langville Properties as 51 houses with a further seven new houses to the rear, known as Blackarch Wood.
When this scheme was completed in 2000, there was a general understanding that no further development would be permitted at Headfort. In 2003, Meath County Council refused planning permission for a proposed hotel and leisure complex on the lands.
A decision by the county council in March last year to grant permission for a large extension to one of the houses in Blackarch Wood was successfully appealed to An Bord Pleanála. It ruled that this scheme would "seriously injure the amenities of the area".
Headfort Golf Club, An Taisce, the Irish Georgian Society and local residents are all objecting to the proposed reduction in the ACA designation to less than 10 per cent of the land area put forward by the council's planners in the draft development plan.
One local resident, who did not wish to be identified, said councillors he had spoken to who voted in favour of the amendment "said they didn't know what was going on" at the time, and some of them had pledged to vote against when it next comes up.
Cllr Michael Gallagher (SF) said Headfort was "a private school that should be funded in other ways". He described what was happening as "developer-led planning" in which Cllr Farrelly was "closely involved". Mr Farrelly could not be contacted to comment.
Attempts to contact Mr Sheridan and Headfort School were also unsuccessful. However, in putting forward the amendment to the ACA, Mr Farrelly said that it would restrict the rights of local landowners more so than elsewhere in Co Meath.
Other ACAs have been proposed for Kilmessan, Slane, Julianstown, Longwood, Summerhill, Athboy, Moynalty and Oldcastle, as well as the estates of Ardbraccan, Oldbridge, Slane Castle and Dunsany Castle.
All were drafted with the assistance of the Heritage Council. A spokesman for the Heritage Council said the amended ACA for Headfort would erode the level of protection afforded to the estate. Even the original ACA was "very skeletal and needs to be fleshed out by a landscape character appraisal".
The proposed reduction in the ACA area is also being opposed by Meath County Council planners.
