Ballyliffin funeral home plans rejected on appeal

A decision by Donegal County Council to grant planning permission for the construction of a funeral home and undertakers in Ballyliffin has been overturned following an appeal.

The local authority had granted planning permission to Orla McFeely for the retention of alterations to an existing house to facilitate the construction of a funeral home and undertakers.

Two appeals were lodged with An Bord Pleanála against the decision. The board made a split decision by granting permission for the retention of elevational alterations to a dwelling and refusing the retention of foundations, rising walls to subfloor and floor slab and permission for the development of a funeral undertakers building.

Two objections to the original plans raised concerns about the risk of future compliance issues and claimed it was an inappropriate rural location for commercial use. Concerns were also raised about the visual impact on a designated scenic area, the impact on residential amenity and property value, that the development would be a traffic hazard and be prejudicial to public health.

In response, the applicant stated that a funeral undertaker’s business operates from dispersed premises and the development would allow the consolidation of the business and obviate the need for the transport of corpses to Buncrana or Letterkenny for embalming.

The applicant said traffic movements would be confined to those associated with the family and the undertaker’s business, and would deal with around one funeral per month and that no members of the deceased family, or other mourners, would be allowed to assemble or congregate at the applicant’s house or the proposed building.

The applicant said the proposed business would provide a valuable service to the local area and would be “not for profit”.

The embalming process would not constitute any threat to the environment or residential amenities and the applicant said there was no possibility of contamination of a local steam.

Donegal County Council said waste management is regulated under the Waste Management Acts and the local authority has a highly active and effective waste enforcement section. It said no significant public health issues would arise.

The board’s inspector found that the proposed development would be incompatible with the surrounding land use, seriously injure the residential amenities and depreciate the value of adjoining properties, would conflict with the Donegal County Development Plan.

The board found it was not satisfied that the applicant had indicated how the development would be adequately serviced and that the proposed development would therefore be prejudicial to public health and contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.