Billionaire Maurice Regan’s Tipperary haybarn plans appealed by neighbours over fire fears
US-based construction billionaire Maurice Regan has seen his grant of planning permission for a new barn at his Tipperary stud farm appealed by neighbours.
Mr Regan was granted planning permission by Tipperary County Council to demolish an existing hay shed and lean-tos at Ballinamore, Clonmel, and replace them with a combined hay shed and tractor/machine store.
The application also included a communications room, security poles and associated site development works on land adjoining Newtown Anner Stud, where Mr Regan has a substantial bloodstock operation.
The stud farm is most notable for producing thoroughbred racehorse Fascinating Rock, who won the £770,000 British Champion Stakes in 2015 and has gone on to become a notable sire.
Mr Regan’s neighbours Tom and Gemma Prendergast have appealed the council’s decision to grant planning permission for developments on the stud farm to An Coimisiún Pleanála, arguing that the shed would be capable of storing up to 1,000 hay bales and that a fire could put their home at risk.
An agent acting on behalf of the couple also said that the Prendergasts disagreed with the council planner’s assertion that the barn would be the same risk of fire as a normal farm building.
The agent said that the bales would be at an increased risk of catching fire, and that they had first-hand experience of a farmyard fire.
“My clients have first-hand experience of a farmyard fire, with a haybarn fire on their own farm in June 2020. By the time the fire brigade reached the farm, the haybarn had been completely destroyed,” they added.
Despite Mr Regan saying that the new barn would be added to an existing fire detection system that already operates at the stud, Mr and Mrs Prendergast say that this does not allay their fears.
“My clients, for the reasons outlined above, including their own experience of a fire in a much smaller haybarn on their own farm, do not share the applicant’s confidence that a fire in such proximity to their home could be brought under control before it got out of hand,” the agent said.
The agent also raised concerns about the proximity of the barn to the Prendergasts’ home, and the public road, and that the removal of native hedgerows will impact on biodiversity.
“Even when the proposed replanting of the roadside hedgerow occurs, it will be many years before mature and the applicant will be required to maintain the new hedges, including limiting their height,” the Prendergasts’ agent explained.
This replanted hedge, the agent added, will be ineffective in screening the planned shed.
The planning permission decision had stipulated seven conditions, which largely related to environmental concerns, but also included a stipulation to paint all oxidisable and galvanised surfaces a dark green matt colour, or similar dark matt colour, in the interest of visual amenity.
An Coimisiún Pleanála has yet to indicate when a decision will be made on the appeal.