Plans for apartments at site in Mayo county town refused again

PLANS for a residential development on the former Coal Bunker site in Castlebar have been refused by Mayo County Council.

This is the second failed attempt to build apartments on the site, which is located opposite the Sacred Heart Hospital.

Developer Harold Conway sought permission for 12 apartments (four two-bed and eight one-bed). With a previous application for the site having been rejected by planners, he had reduced the unit numbers from 19 to 12 in this second proposal.

Four submissions were received during the public consultation period which raised a number of concerns, including zoning, lack of car parking, invasion of privacy, traffic safety/congestion and pedestrian safety concerns at a busy junction, over-development of the site, excessive density, and the possible impact on residents of the Sacred Heart Hospital.

The decision to refuse permission issued by the local authority explained that the site is zoned ‘Enterprise and Employment’. Therefore, the proposed residential development would materially contravene the land use zoning set out in the Castlebar Town and Environs Local Area Plan.