Clare County Council has expressed ‘serious concerns’ that a HSE plan for an elderly care unit on lands at St Flannan’s College may prejudice the future expansion of the secondary school.
The local authority has told the executive it’s putting the project on hold.
The Council has written to the HSE to state that it has serious concerns that the proposed development, particularly on lands zoned, may prejudice the future expansion of the school, including ancillary required sports/recreational grounds and result in the removal of a number of mature trees.
The proposed 100 bed Community Nursing Unit on a seven acre green field site at Clonroadmore at the post primary St Flannan’s College is to replace the existing bed capacity at St Joseph’s Hospital in Ennis.
In the letter, the Council states that St Joseph’s Hospital benefits from a central location, availability of public infrastructure and proximity to social infrastructure.
In the seven page letter, the Council has also asked the HSE to provide detail on alternative sites that were considered in relation to the proposed new CNU and details for discounting those alternatives.
The Council has asked the HSE to relocate or redesign the proposed building so that greater separation distances are maintained.
The local authority has also expressed concern over the scale and massing of the proposed development.
The application will become ‘live’ once more after the requested further information has been lodged by the HSE.
