Planning and Development

Dursey Island Cable Car and Visitor Centre Development

Planning and Development Act, 2000 as amended – Part XV, Section 226 Planning and Development Act, 2000 to 2018 – Part XAB, Section 177AE

DURSEY CABLE CAR AND VISITOR CENTRE

Cork County Council (“the developer”) has applied under section 226 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 to An Bord Pleanála (“the Board”) for approval in relation to a proposed development consisting of:

A two-car desynchronised reversible ropeway cableway, two supporting line structures (one on the mainland and one on the island), a mainland-side drive station (including all necessary operating machinery, facilities for operating staff, and a platform for embarking/disembarking), an island-side return station (including all necessary operating machinery, platform for embarking/disembarking, a sheltered waiting area and welfare facilities), a mainland-side interpretive exhibition centre with a gift shop, a mainland-side café with seating for 40 indoor, 44 on an outdoor terrace overlooking the Dursey Sound with welfare facilities, a mainland-side visitor car park with 100 no. parking spaces and 1 no. bus bay, upgrades of associated utilities infrastructure (including mainland water supply and mainland and island wastewater treatment systems), road improvement works (construction of 10 no. passing bays, 1 no. visibility splay at Bealbarnish gap and completion of a number of local improvements to improve visibility) on the mainland-side approach road R572, demolition/removal of some elements of the existing cableway infrastructure (ropeway, island-side pylon), mainland-side visitor car park and island and mainland station buildings, erection of interpretive signage at strategic locations, erection of 4 no. Variable Message Signs (VMS) along the approach roads to the site (1. Bealbarnish Gap; 2. the R572 at Castletownbere; 3. the R575 at Eyeries Cross; and 4. the N71 at Glengarriff), retention of the carrier cabin, mainland-side pylon and a section of the mainland-side hauling machinery of the existing cableway in order to facilitate ongoing appreciation of their industrial architectural and cultural heritage value, soft and hard landscaping and all other ancillary works. The proposed development is illustrated in the map below.

Cork County Council has submitted to the Board the Environmental Impact Assessment Report prepared in accordance with section 226 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (as amended) in respect of the proposed development.

Cork County Council has prepared a Natura Impact Statement in respect of the proposed development which has also been submitted to An Bord Pleanála.

A copy of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report and the Natura Impact Statement may be inspected at the following locations on working days

  • Monday to Friday from 13th September 2019 to 25th October 2019:
  • Cork County Council, County Hall, Carrigrohane Road, Cork (9am - 5pm) ;
  • Cork County Council, Planning Department West Cork, Norton House, Skibbereen, Co. CorkCork County Council Area Office, Foildarrig, Castletownbere, Co. Cork, (9am - 5pm, closed 1-2pm each day); and
  • (9am - 4pm)

A copy of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report and/or the Natura Impact Statement may be purchased on payment of the following fees:

Document

Title

Printed

Electronic (DVD)

EIAR Volume 1

Non-Technical Summary

€5

 

 

€5

EIAR Volume 2

EIAR Text

€25

EIAR Volume 3

EIAR Figures

€50

NIS

Natura Impact Statement

€25

A copy of the EIAR and NIS may be accessed free of charge at the Council’s website at www.corkcoco.ie .

The Board may, in relation to an application for approval under section 226, of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, as amended, by order, approve the proposed development with or without modifications or it may refuse such development.

Submissions may be made in writing to the An Bord Pleanála, Strategic Infrastructure Division, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1, D01 V902 in relation to

  1. the likely effects on the environment of the proposed development;
  2. the implications of the proposed development for proper planning and sustainable development in the area in which it is proposed to situate the proposed development; and
  3. the likely significant effects of the proposed development on a European Site;

between 13th September 2019 and 25th October 2019. In exercise of the powers conferred on An Bord Pleanála under section 144 (1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended by section 27 of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006), a fee of

€50.00 must be paid in respect of any observations/submissions made to An Bord Pleanála in respect of any local authority strategic infrastructure development application. This fee will not apply to prescribed bodies. Further information in relation to fees can be obtained from An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1, D01 V902

Practical information on the review mechanism can be accessed under the heading Publications – Judicial Review Notice 2012 on the Board’s website www.pleanala.ie or on the Citizens Information Service website www.citizensinformation.ie .

Further information may be obtained from: Dursey Island Cable Car and Visitor Centre, Cork County Council, Carrigrohane Road, Cork; Phone 021 428 5939;

email – Liam.Lynch@corkcoco.ie Dated This 13th September 2019

Sharon Corcoran, Director of Service, Cork County Council

Document Summary