Carrigans Indian Pentecostal Church Community Hall refused permission by council

Proposals to convert former revenue customs offices in Dunmore, Carrigans, to a meeting and community hall for the Indian Pentecostal Church have been refused by Donegal County Council.

Donegal County Council refused the planning application, offering reasons such as noise nuisance and the rural need of the application.

The IPC Gilgal was listed as the official applicants for the project, an organisation affiliated with the Indian Pentecostal Church of God in Kumbanad, Kerala, India, and is part of the IPC UK and Ireland Region.

Locally, members of IPC Gilgal meet at All Saints Parish Hall in Newtowncunningham 

Along with the proposed meeting and community hall, plans included an office, canteen, and sanitary facilities, along with a new part-roof extension to the front of the building, and an extension to the rear roof section, as well as the replacement of the single-storey roof to the side of the building.

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All infrastructure and site development works, and associated car parking, were included in the planning application. 

The site had been used for local kickboxing and personal training classes. 

The planner’s report recommended that Donegal County Council refuse planning permission for the proposed community hall for the Indian Pentecostal Church. 

It considered that “the proposed use is not functionally dependent on the subject site location,” that it could not “be demonstrated that the proposed development will serve an exclusively rural need,” and that it had not “been proven that no acceptable noise levels will result, therefore it is considered that the development could have an unacceptable and detrimental impact on the residential amenity.”

The planner’s report “would set an undesirable precedent for similar developments which would serve to erode the amenities of this rural area, would be prejudicial to public health, and would endanger public safety by reason of a traffic hazard.”