Proposal for 100 homes in Kerry tourism town despite no water capacity
The KerrymanA planning application has been submitted to Kerry County Council for a large-scale residential development in Kenmare despite the town’s water supply being at capacity.
KPH Construction has put forward plans to build 100 homes just off the town’s eastern relief road, Pat Scarteen Road.
While the capacity of Kenmare’s water supply has held back the development of the town for years, a new precedent was recently set when an 85-house development was given the green light without a water connection agreement from Uisce Éireann.
This new application requests planning permission for 10 years to allow two phases of construction on a 2.6-hectare site.
The development consists of 30 one-bed units, 30 two-bed units and 40 three-bed units.
The one and two-bed units will be own-door apartment units over two storeys, while the three-bed units will mostly consist of semi-detached housing, with four terraced units.
As part of Part V regulations, 20 units will be made available for social housing.
The childcare needs assessment for proposed development found that the development falls below the threshold for the provision of a childcare facility due to the majority of the housing units being under three-beds.
A total of 112 parking spaces is proposed to accommodate residents, with 24 spaces being designated for electric vehicles.
Computer render of the proposed development
Vehicular access to the development will be via an entrance off the Pat Scarteen Road, with proposed upgrades including amendments to the existing shared pedestrian/cycle path and modifications to the signing and lining on the public road.
The proposed development also provides for separate pedestrian/cycle entrances off Pat Scarteen Road and includes dedicated pedestrian and cycling paths within the site.
Environmental assessments found that eight of the 10 known Irish species of bat have been recorded within a 4km radius.
“It is not proposed to remove any trees to facilitate the proposed development, therefore there will be no loss of foraging and commuting habitat at the proposed site during the construction phase,” the report said.
While the result of artificial lighting at night may be ‘significant’ at the International Level, the report states that construction operations during the hours of darkness will be kept to a minimum.
Phase one of construction highlighted in orange, with phase two in blue
“The proposed lighting design ensures that external lighting shall be limited to downlighters, resulting in minimal light spill and retention of a dark buffer along woodland and treeline habitat at the western site boundary,” the report added.
The Stage 1 and 2 flood risk assessments indicated that there is potential for fluvial flooding Kealnagower river located north of the site.
With mitigation measures, including the raising of the land at the site and the surface water drainage proposals, the risk of flooding to residents would be ‘low’ and there would be no adverse impact on flooding on third party sites, the report stated.
Ancillary infrastructure development works will include wastewater infrastructure, a pumping station, surface water attenuation, water utility services, public lighting, bin stores, bicycle stores, ESB substations, landscaping and all associated site development works.