New Mayo hotel decision is appealed to An Bord Pleanála

AN appeal has been lodged with An Bord Pleanála (ABP) against a decision by Mayo County Council to grant planning permission for a new two-storey, 14-bedroom hotel on the site of the old Healy's Hotel in Pontoon.

Planning permission was granted earlier this year to the applicant company, Pontoon Angler's Hotel Limited, subject to 22 conditions.

The company, which is owned by entrepreneurs Michael Cusack and John Reddington, successfully sought permission to demolish an existing 'dilapidated building' and replace it with a new two-storey building.

However, an appeal has now been lodged by Ms. Eilis Healy with an address at Ave Des Grenadiers Brussels, Belgium.

Ms. Healy has appealed on the following grounds – ‘unwarranted demolition’ and ‘inappropriate and obtrusive development’.

She says that although she ‘welcomes the promise of renewed life and thriving commercial activity at this singular place’ she opposes demolition of the core 19th century structure.

Accordingly, she was referring the planning decision to An Bord Pleanála for independent review.

In her letter of appeal Ms. Healy writes: "The location is one of widely acknowledged uniqueness and the existing building has an long and distinguished tradition of service.

"The Knockaglana cluster (structure of the old building), of which the hotel is part, is a celebrated vista and its development can be traced through 19th and 20th century glass plate collections now held at the NLI, National Photographic Archive, National Museums Northern Ireland and the University of Glasgow."

In a paragraph outlining the history of the present structure, Ms. Healy outlined: "The present day hotel, a modest vernacular building dating, in its earliest form, to a Mail Coach changing station completed in 1836, was extended in the 1890s and opened as a small fishing hotel and lakeside inn by 1895.

"It remained in family ownership until 1989 and continued its tradition of service under successive new owners.

"Fire destroyed a modern extension in 2011 and caused some structural damage to the north gable of the main block, necessitating the closure of guest bedrooms in the original building.

"The bar and restaurant trade continued and the business was placed on the market as a going concern in 2015."

In her letter of appeal Ms. Healy points to the fact that the Pontoon area has a long association with writers, artists and poets, including Padraig MacPiarais, Augustine Birrell, Robert Lloyd Praeger, Frank Mitchell, Louis MacNeice, Seán Ó Faoláin and Seamus Heaney.

The proposed structure, Ms. Healy argues, is of 'greater footprint and more aggressive visual impact' than the existing building.

Also, she adds: "The proposed hotel building is, in large measure, a structure heavily reliant on pastiche which is wholly inappropriate to the existing environment."

Ms. Healy's letter of appeal adds: "The building now under imminent threat is a very modest, mature, site-appropriate building and I make no grandiose claims of intrinsic architectural merit in its favour.

"Its replacement by the structure approved by the local authority brings about an unacknowledged and largely unevaluated heritage loss in an area of recognised historical, heritage and amenity value, and a persuasive case for its loss, rather than its extensive refurbishment and extension, has not been made."

In the final paragraphs of her letter, Ms. Healy says she is fully aware of widespread local support for renewed commercial activity in the Knockaglana area.

She adds that she has ‘enormous personal regard for many of those who support the proposed development and who will see in this referral an unwelcome impediment to progress’.

The letter continues: "I commend the commitment to the area shown by the hotel's new owners and I regret the consequences to them of any delay to the commencement of building works on site.

“I wish them long and successful tenure.

"I consider, however, that the local authority's decision in this matter is a very significant one for the place of heritage, conservation and sustainable tourism considerations in the evaluation of sensitive planning proposals such as this."