Granted permission for new Dunfanaghy caravan park upheld by An Coimisiún Pleanála

Donegal County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for a new caravan and motorhome park in Dunfanaghy has been upheld by An Comisiún Pleanála following an appeal against the proposal.

The proposal, which was granted conditional planning permission by Donegal County Council in December 2023, was for the construction of a caravan, motorhome, and camping park to include 10 designated motorhome pitches, and 65 static caravan pitches.

A facility building including a reception area, toilets and showers, was to be constructed as part of the plans, as well as the construction of a site maintenance and storage building.

The proposed site, in the townland of Kill, has been subject to similar planning proposals before. Conditional planning permission was granted for a motorhome park with 40 plots, and in 2022, planning permission was applied for the construction of a caravan park with 10 motorhome plots and 85 static caravan pitches.

According to the An Coimisiún Pleanála’s inspector’s report, written by Ronan O’Connor, the appellant against the proposal was “of the view that the current proposal is an overdevelopment of the site and that previous proposals were of a more acceptable scale.”

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It was included by a third-party appeal submitted in January 2024, that there was a “slow build up on the size and scope of the proposals over a 12-year period” which was “misleading to the public.”

Concerns with potential conflict with the Primary Care Centre, property value, water supply and the character of the area were submitted.

In response, on February 2024, Donegal County Council insisted that the proposals complied with the relevant standards of the previous development plan, and that the visual impact was not considered to be significant.  

The planning inspector recommended that the proposals be granted permission, noting that there would be no “significant adverse impacts on the surrounding road network” and it was “not considered the proposal will result in a traffic hazard.”

Furthermore, the inspector considered the plans to have “no material impact on surrounding residential amenity” and that the proposal’s design was “acceptable” and “not considered that any adverse visual impacts or adverse impacts on the surrounding landscape would result from the development as proposed.”

An Coimisiún Pleanála upheld Donegal County Council’s decision to grant permission for the proposal with 16 conditions, including Irish signage, and financial contributions from the developer in respect of public infrastructure and facilities benefiting development in the area of the planning authority that is provided or intended to be provided on behalf of the authority.