A proposal to more than treble the population of Clondra village in Longford is being opposed by a group of residents who see this as a landmark case for all small villages.
Clondra is a scenic village on the banks of the Royal Canal and the Camlin river, just over four miles from Longford town. The village has a population of 172 people with one shop, two pubs, a two-teacher school and a post office. In July, Longford County Council granted planning permission to Swanpool Ltd for a large-scale residential development on its property at Richmond Mill in the village.
The plan for the 11-acre site includes 78 apartments, 53 terraced houses, and 13 detached houses with garages as well as two four-storey apartment blocks and three retail units.
Clondra Village Concerned Residents (CVCR) appealed the council's decision to An Bord Pleanala and is awaiting a result. Groups such as An Taisce, Duchas, Inland Waterways Association, the Georgian Society and the Arts Council have also voiced concerns.
The residents' group claimed the development would overwhelm Clondra in scale, traffic and population. The village has three narrow and winding bridges, which would not be suitable for high volumes of traffic, according to the group.
"Clondra was bypassed over 20 years ago because it was not suitable for heavy traffic," group member Mr Gerry Bourke said. "So it doesn't make sense that it should be suitable now."
CVCR member Ms Catherine Skelly believes the results of their efforts will be crucial for all small villages. "With careful consideration and an appropriate decision not to allow it to go ahead, a vital message to developers, local authorities and local inhabitants will be sent out to slow down the speed at which development is being fast-tracked." Up to recently, Richmond Mill was the site of a tannery, where animal hide and skin were treated. Swanpool Ltd said it might intensify its tannery operation if it were refused permission for the residential development. Some villagers who are not opposed to the development have argued that an apartment block would be better than an industrial operation with unpleasant smells.
The residents' group said it was unfair to offer such stark choices.
Mr Des McPartland, who runs the Richmond Inn, said he was fully behind the development and said the 1,300 new jobs for Longford announced this week emphasised the need for such accommodation. He said the majority of villagers were in favour of the development. However, the residents' group said the majority was against it. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.
"This was a sleepy village for too long," Mr McPartland said. "The village will die unless something like this comes. We are struggling to hold on to our second teacher in the school." He said the roads were capable of taking the extra traffic and pointed to the time when Atlantic Mills operated nearby and up to 600 people worked there.
The development would encourage more tourists, Mr McPartland said. However, the residents' group sees the opposite happening. "Tourists come here for peace and quiet," Mr John Knox, CVCR member said. "We get a different type of tourist here." He moved to the village from Dublin, after discovering it while cruising on the Shannon. "It won't be a village anymore if this goes ahead. We will be totally outnumbered by strangers. This isn't the place for building little boxes, all looking the same."
CVCR agrees that something should be done with the tannery site but said small craft and enterprise units would be a more constructive addition to the village. "We are not antidevelopment," said group member Ms Frances Skelly.
"But development should be carried out in a gradual and planned way. Perhaps the village could take from 10 to 16 houses, but it would have to be gradual and amenities would have to be provided. There are no amenities with this plan."
These criticisms have been rejected by Mr Finbarr Barry, of Cunnane Stratton Reynolds, planning consultants for the project. He accepted the group had concerns but said the development would be replacing a "very messy industrial operation".
The cost of refurbishing the Richmond Mill had to be retrieved in other elements of the scheme, he said, and pointed out that 50 per cent of the development is incorporated into the existing building. Increasing the scale of the tannery was a real option if the planning application failed, he said. He rejected claims that the design was unsuitable for a rural area and said the developers had taken on board all the main proposals from Duchas in its submission.
The developers and the residents were also at odds on the likely increase in population. The residents' group said it would quadruple it while Mr Barry said it would probably be doubled. However, even with a modest 2.5 people per two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom units, the population would certainly treble.
An Bord Pleanala's decision was due before December 24th, but a backlog means the decision may not emerge until January or early February.
