Council requests redesign of hotel renovation in Carlow 

CARLOW Co Council has returned the planning permission application for the Woodford Dolmen Hotel and requested the owners to redesign several elements of the proposed renovation.

In its request for further information, the council states that the design of the car park would surround the rear and sides of the neighbouring ‘Shalom’ property and have a negative impact on the residents’ enjoyment of their property. The council further noted that the land for this part of the car park is zoned as residential land and cannot be used as a car park as part of tourism or leisure development.

It also noted that the design submitted did not comprehensively address the potential for the three-storey extension with a first-floor level roof garden to overlook and overshadow the ‘Shalom’ property.

The council asked the applicants to review whether their design would overlook or overshadow the property and, if it would, to remove or mitigate these effects from their plans.

It asked the applicants to outline how noise pollution from ventilation and light spill into the neighbouring properties would be avoided. And it asked the designers to include nature-based solutions to avoid negative impacts from wastewater and surface water drainage. The outdoor lighting must also be designed to mitigate effects on bat populations in the area.

The applicants must submit a travel and transport assessment, include a bike park in the design, submit a construction environmental management plan, a revised architectural design statement, a revised design for a concrete wall on the bank of the River Barrow, a site-specific flood risk assessment, revised site layout and landscape plans, a revised natural impact statement and revised basement floor plans.

The applicants have six months to submit the requested documents, which will then be reviewed by the council’s planning department again.