€60m Monksland project on hold after Pleanala refusal

The developers behind plans for a neighbourhood centre in Monksland have said they are 'devastated' at An Bord Pleanala"s decision to refuse permission, but they have not ruled out going back to the drawing board. On Friday, it emerged that the planning appeals board had rejected the ambitious proposals from Creaven and Downey in Monksland after expressing concerns about the road layout, and in particular, the new roundabout proposed for the project. The final plans before the planning board included a four-exit roundabout, which would mean closing off the Tuam Road, a move many local residents were completely opposed to. It"s believed the new roundabout plans also provoked the ire of road authorities, who were worried that the layout would cause traffic problems in the area. Additionally, it"s understood An Bord Pleanala felt it was not within their power to give the go ahead to a project, which would necessitate the closure of a road, preferring that this was a function of Roscommon County Council to adjudicate on. 'We"re devastated over it. At the moment the project is on hold, we can"t do anything without planning but we will call a meeting soon to look at the inspector"s report before we decide our next move,' Tony Downey told the Westmeath Independent this week.He added it was a pity in the current climate as the project would be hugely beneficial to the area in terms of facilities, jobs and, indeed, to open up the area with a new link road between the Monksland junction and the Roscommon road, a site of major congestion on a daily basis at present. However, Mr Downey was in a bullish mood, adding that they were 'not going to give up on it'. Planning permission was granted early in 2007 for the revised massive neighbourhood centre development after Roscommon County Council voted overwhelming in favour of altering the zoning of the land to allow approval for the plans, after the original blueprint a year earlier was knocked back by the local authority. However, it was later appealed in the summer of that year to An Bord Pleanala by local resident Raymond Fallon and it has taken until this week for a verdict to be reached, something the developers said was very disappointing considering the time and cost put in the development thus far. The backers believe the "village within a village" project envisaged for the ten acre site along the Tuam Road could sustain 200 permanent jobs. A range of 150 residential units retail units, a civic centre, a creche, footbridge and landscaped public square comprise some of the integral parts of the exciting project, which aroused controversy in the area initially from local residents who objected to the scale, size and height of the proposals.