Planning authority refuses new driving range at Tipperary golf club after neighbours raise privacy concerns
A plan to build a new driving range and golf studio at a Tipperary golf club has been refused by An Coimisiún Pleanála, despite being approved by Tipperary County Council.
Paul Eivers, a lessee of Cahir Park Golf Club was granted planning permission by Tipperary County Council for the construction of six covered driving range bays, four external range bays, and a golf studio at the club.
Despite being granted planning permission by the council, the decision was appealed by Kathleen, Michelle and Dara Crimmins, Simon and Julie Roche, and Kevin and Caroline Sullivan, who said that the range bays would be “an intrusive invasion of privacy”.
“The proposed development will result in an increase of golfers congregating behind the Crimmins/Sullivan homes at close range,” the appeal letter said.
“The height of the proposed building ... is a drastic intrusion on our sunlight and daylight and will itself be unsightly and imposing. The width of the proposed development is the full width of our back garden.
“This proposal has been granted permission to take privacy and sunlight away from the Crimmins/Sullivan family permanently, which is deeply distressing,” the letter added.
The appellants added that the type of roof that was proposed for the covered golfing bays would be built in an area known for high wind events, and that it would be at risk of blowing away in particularly bad weather conditions.
“One of the most serious concerns we raise as adjacent residents is the unregulated, unsupervised, and late-night use of the existing driving range — a situation that will be exacerbated by the proposed expansion to six covered and four uncovered driving bays,” they said.
The residents say that there are no stated operating times for the driving range, with golfers routinely arriving after 10pm, a practice that is “entirely inappropriate”, they said.
They added that there is no gate access or staff on site, meaning that people can come and go at any time of the day or night, with no control over noise, anti-social behaviour, or the extended usage of the facilities.
“This commercial development provides a space to users for their enjoyment and leisure, which they can walk away from, whenever their day ends.
“However, this location is home to three families, and we are at the mercy of the golf club management, and the applicant, Mr Eivers, where their commercial sports facility is taking precedence over our peace and the right to live in our homes stress-free and without intrusion,” they said.
The golf club said in response that the new driving bays would not increase the capacity at the club, with a maximum of 19 people to be on site at any one time.
They also added that the development will be sunken and that the finished floor levels will be below the neighbouring properties.
They added that the “opening hours will be typical of this type of development and is the subject of a planning condition”.
“Lighting will be designed to eliminate glare and light pollution. The purpose is to view the ball in flight on screen rather than light the range to view the ball in the dark,” an agent for Mr Eivers added.
“No direct communication with neighbouring properties was conducted. The development was advertised in a local newspaper with multiple site notices erected,” they said.
Despite the An Coimisiún Pleanála inspector ruling that the development should be allowed, the commission itself ruled that permission should be refused.
The commission concluded the proposal was not simply an extension of the existing golf club but amounted to a separate commercial leisure development, which is not permitted under the site’s zoning.
The commission said that since the application for planning permission came from Paul Eivers, a lessee of Cahir Park Golf Club, and not the club itself, it represented “a new separate sports/leisure facility (commercial) on lands zoned for open space”.
“It is considered that the intensification of use at this location by way of 10 additional range bays and the introduction of flood lighting, would adversely impact on the residential amenity of the existing dwellings immediately to the west of the application site,” the commission said.
In deciding not to accept the inspector’s recommendation to grant permission for the proposed development, the commission, having sought and received clarification from the applicant with regards to the operation of the proposed development on the site, were satisfied that the proposed development represents the establishment of a new sports/leisure facility (commercial), separate from the adjacent established Cahir Park Golf Club.
The development, the commission added, “would be contrary to the open space land-use zoning objective for the lands as indicated in the Cahir Local Area Plan”.
They also ruled that without an ecological assessment of the potential impacts on the local ecology, they could not be sure that the proposed development would not have an adverse impact on the local environment.