Connacht Tribune

Plan to provide 30 berths at Lough Derg sinks

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An imaginative initiative to attract angling tourists to South East Galway has sunk without trace after planners ruled on environmental grounds against the proposal to accommodate 30 boat owners.

County planners were told that the berthing facilities for 30 lake boats would have provided a new tourism attraction on Lough Derg – and it would also have the potential to service around 25 holiday homes around the lake.

Disappointed local FG councillor Jimmy McClearn said that it was another stumbling block in their efforts to bring more visitors to the area.

”I just think planners do not want anything to happen in rural Galway and this is another example”, he said.

He described it as “frustration beyond belief” and added that it was ironic that the anglers involved in the application for the berths had engaged in the collection of more than 90 tons of rubbish from woodland areas surround this particular part of the lake.

The application to Galway County Council was submitted by Woodford Anglers Association, who not alone fish the lake, but their members also carry out vital environmental works in the area as well as maintaining the rivers in order to develop fish stocks.

They have been to the forefront of this local tourist industry for several years.

However, their application for the berths was not supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) for environmental reasons. Consequently Galway County Council refused planning permission for the plan.

It is understood that the anglers are to engage with the NPWS over the coming weeks to discuss their concerns. They are confident that the works that are involved in the construction of the boathouse, which will accommodate the 30 berths, will meet their approval.

A submission to the planning application stated that it would have to be built on a solid concrete base adjacent to the lake and a Special Area of Conservation and significant excavations will be taking place at this location but that there are no details of the volumes of the materials that will be excavated or how they will be disposed.

In refusing planning permission, county planners ruled that the development would have an adverse impact on the integrity of the Lough Derg Special Area of Conservation and would set an undesirable precedent for similar future developments.

They said that it would pose an unacceptable risk to the surface waters on the lake as well as resulting in an unacceptable degradation of a protected habitat and species in the area. They also took issue with the access road to where the boats would be berthed and believed that it would create a traffic hazard.

Planners added that because of the scale of the marina-style development, it would result in a dominant and overbearing form of development and would not fit appropriately or integrate effectively into this highly sensitive lakeshore site.

Cllr Jimmy McClearn told the Connacht Tribune that every effort was being made to promote tourism in South East Galway and Lough Derg was obviously “part and parcel of this”.

He said that the region had been decimated in terms of population and this was one small way to try and address the problem.

“The anglers are an integral part of the whole area and they, more than most, are conscious of protecting the environment. To suggest anything different is way off the mark. If anything, what they are proposing will have a beneficial effect for both the environment and local tourism,” Cllr McClearn added.

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