Approval for holiday park expansion

Plans to expand the Cabu by the Lakes holiday village in Killykeen have been approved.

Killykeen Forest Holidays Limited sought permission from Cavan County Council to erect 15 new holiday chalets at the site. The plans were approved last year but subsequently appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

The 75-acre park already contains 28 holiday cabins and the former equestrian centre has been converted into guest accommodation.

Since then, Killykeen Forest Holidays Ltd has successfully transformed the former equestrian centre to rustic yet state-of-the-art guest accommodation for up to 15 people.

The latest plans are made up of seven detached holiday chalets, each one and a half storeys in height. Eight are semi-detached, single storey chalets.

It’s expected the latest expansion will allow up to 74 more guests to be accommodated in the park.

Cavan County Council gave the green light to the plans in July of last year, subject to 13 conditions. The majority dealt with wastewater and water run-off from the site, given its location close to the Lough Oughter complex. It also required all trees on site be retained, other than those that need to be removed to facilitate the development. It’s planned that 45 trees will be removed to facilitate the development, including larch, sweet chestnut, ash, beech, Norway Spruce and oak.

However, the decision was appealed by An Taisce, an organisation active in the areas of the environment and built heritage in Ireland.

Six issues were raised in the body’s submission to the planning board, including the lack of required assessments and gaps in the original application.

It said the Habitats Directive 'requires that permission cannot be granted unless the consenting body is satisfied beyond reasonable scientific doubt that a project in its own right or in combination with other plans or programmes will not adversely affect the integrity of a European site'. However, it claims Cavan County Council 'did not interrogate the science presented and their decision does not constitute an appropriate record to meet the reporting obligations and invalidates the planning decision'.

An Taisce also highlighted “incremental applications” by Killykeen Forest Holidays Limited and the stated intention to expand the park further. It says increasing visitor traffic and the impact of the park is not being addressed.

It also noted issues it had with the conditions attached to the original planning permission.

In response, Killykeen Forest Holidays Limited said the development 'has been the subject of a comprehensive assessment of impact on European sites' and a natura impact statement was carried out by three ecologists, 'all expert professionals'.

With regard to 'project splitting', it said the two previous applications related to changing the use of existing structures within the park constituted 'a phased and small-scale approach to the restoration and renovation of a site purchased by the applicant in 2017'.

It also said traffic from the units would 'have no significant impact in terms of noise on flora and fauna, given the context for the development and 80,000 visitors to the park per annum'.

An Bord Pleanála inspector Deirdre MacGabhann recommended the development be granted permission, with revised conditions.

A total of 1.2 hectares of woodland is to be planted to replace trees lost during development. Details of the trees to be planted are to be notified by 'written agreement', including a timescale for implementation and on-going management.

The use of outdoor sound amplification equipment is not permitted and a number of the 13 conditions require measures to reduce the impact on biodiversity and flora and fauna in the area.