Bord Pleanála criticises Council's 1km rule

AN Bord Pleanála has once again criticised Kerry County Council's controversial 1km rule, accusing the local authority of having conflicting policies and objectives when it comes to granting permission for telecommunications masts.

Overruling yet another Kerry County Council decision to refuse planning for the retention of a mast in Lyreacrompane, the planning appeals board said it failed to understand how the council can claim to support the development of efficient telecommunications masts, yet will not allow them within one kilometre of properties, schools, hospitals or inhabited structures.

The comments came in a report by An Bord Pleanála, which gave permission for Vodafone Ireland to retain a mast at Knockaclare, Lyreacrompane, despite Kerry county council's initial refusal. The development forms part of Vodafone's existing GSM and 3G Broadband telecommunications network.

Overruling the council's decision to refuse retention, the inspector highlights Kerry County Council's emphasis on the importance of a modern, efficient telecommunications system in its county development plan 2009-2015, which the local authority says 'cannot be overstated.' the objective of the council, the inspector highlights, is to 'facilitate the development of a modern, efficient telecommunications network . . . and to support the provision of such infrastructure.'

The inspector goes on to the criticise how the council can support this claim when it also supports its 1km rule, which will not allow them within one kilometre of properties, schools, hospitals.

"It is clear that there is a conflict between policies and objectives of the Kerry County Development Plan as it relates to the provision of telecommunications structures," the inspector stated. "The board has consistently overturned the local authority reason for refusal in the past ad there are no special circumstances which would warrant a different approach in relation to the current appeal."

MARISA REIDY mreidy@kerryman.ie

Kerryman

www.buckplanning.ie

Seabed survey highlights Kerry’s Ice Age history

A MAJOR survey of the Kerry seabed, conducted by a leading research institute, has discovered previously unknown underwater formations off the Dingle Peninsula.
The research vessel Celtic Explorer examined the seabed to the north of the Dingle Peninsula and west of Kerry Head using hi-tech sonar mapping technology and it was working between the Three Sisters by Smerwick Harbour and Brandon Head up until early June.
Initial results have identified a series of previously unknown seafloor features, including an offshore ridge extending in a north westerly direction off the north shore of the Dingle peninsula.
The ridge is five metres high and one kilometre wide with a traceable length of over 10 kilometres. The notable discovery believed to be a glacial feature and possibly a terminal moraine, marks the front of a glacier where rock debris, which was carried along by glacial melt water, was deposited.
The ridge has been dubbed the Slava Ridge after the scientist on the survey who first noted it.
Another prominent feature of the area, according to the researchers, is a 500m to 600m wide trench-like feature, dubbed the Brendan Trench, which orientated east-west and parallel with the shore stretching over 40km. The trench is between 15 and 25m deep and located only 300 to 400m off the coast.
It has been interpreted by the geologists onboard as the seafloor traces of a major geological fault zone. The survey also identified 10 seafloor sediment regions which suggests the presence of a variety of different seafloor ecosystems and the researchers also located six possible wrecks which they are comparing against a list of know wrecks in the area.
This survey was the first such programme since the area was first mapped in the 1800s.

Alan Healy
©The Kingdom

Development of church refused

The Irish Times tells us that a proposed conversion of an early 19th-century Catholic church near the sea in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, to five town houses has been turned down by An Bord Pleanála after an appeal by An Taisce, the national trust.
Kerry County Council had given a conditional go- ahead for the conversion of the protected structure in a prime special amenity area.
An Taisce said Doon Church had for years been a focal point and although not in good repair, it was an impressive building. It found separating it into a number of units undesirable.
An Bord Pleanála ruled that the former church, although in disrepair, would be significantly altered.