Planning overturned for Clonmany parochial community hub

A decision by Donegal County Council to grant planning permission to turn the Parochial House in Clonmany into a community hub has been overturned by An Bord Pleanála. 

In refusing permission, the Board outlined how it wasn’t satisfied that the application

was made by the owner of the property who had “sufficient legal estate or interest in the land” of the proposed development.

It was also not satisfied that the applicant had obtained the “approval of the person(s) who has such sufficient legal estate or interest,” in the property.

Clonmany Youth and Community Resource Centre had sought a change of use of the building, known locally as the Curate’s House in the heart of Clonmany village, which used to be the parish office before it was moved to St Mary’s Hall after a pipe burst and the house was flooded.

Since the house was damaged several years ago, the building has remained vacant. 

The Curate's House and the adjacent field were bought by Clonmany Enterprise Development CLG, the organisers of Clonmany Festival, from the parish priest in recent years.

The Curate’s House is currently leased to the Clonmany Community Centre from the Clonmany Festival.

Donegal County Council had granted permission at the start of the year for a change of use of the Curate’s House, which was never used as living quarters because the parish priest had one house and the curate was to have another house – but Clonmany only ever had a parish priest and no curate since the property was built. 

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Subsequently, an appeal was submitted from Pat McGonigle, a former member of Clonmany Enterprise Development CLG, who was querying the ownership of the lands the development would be situated on. He also highlighted the absence of a letter of consent from the owner. 

In his appeal, Mr McGonigle supplied land registry data which the Inspector for An Bord Pleanála Philip Maguire confirmed demonstrated “that site ownership rests with Clonmany Enterprise Development CLG.”

The objector also had concerns over ground floor plans accompanying the application, as there were four rooms designated as community shops, and he was querying the nature and the type of goods to be sold in them.

In the inspector's report, Philip Maguire outlined that a planning application should be accompanied by a letter of written consent from the owner of the property when the applicant is not the legal owner. Due to this not occurring, he recommended that the Board refuse planning permission. 

According to Mr Maguire, “this situation could have been avoided by the applicant indicating the true legal interest and submitting the requisite letter of consent with the application.”