Glamping pod proposal in Leitrim rejected over location and safety concerns

Planning permission has been refused for glamping pods in Leitrim by Leitrim County Council. An application was submitted in October of this year seeking permission to install five fully serviced glamping pods in Aghacashel. 

The application also included proposals for the creation of access pathways, a carpark, a storage building, a new entrance, refuse storage, signage, the upgrade and relocation of the existing wastewater treatment system to commercial capacity, the upgrade of the existing polishing filter, retention permission for the site boundaries, and associated site works.

A notice of refusal was issued by Leitrim County Council on Thursday, December 18. There were five reasons given for the refusal of planning permission. 

These included that the development would go against the Leitrim County Development Plan 2023-2029, as the proposed development’s location outside any settlement boundaries, in the open countryside, and away from existing tourism facilities is not appropriate and goes against a tourism policy under the plan which supports tourist accommodation in suitable locations.

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Another reason listed was that the applicant had not demonstrated that the proposed wastewater system had been designed to adequately manage the safe disposal of wastewater from the site. 

The proposal was also deemed to provide an “unsustainable” type of development, focusing on accommodation without a sustainable connection to an “identified tourism market or asset.”

It was also noted that the road to the proposed site is too narrow, with no provisions for pedestrians. “It is considered that the development, as proposed, would endanger public safety by reason of a traffic hazard,” the refusal stated.

The applicant is able to make an appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála within four weeks of the local authority’s decision.

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