Decision on golf course opposed by Heritage Council

The Heritage Council has appealed to An Bord Pleanala against Clare County Council's decision to grant planning permission for a £12.5 million golf complex at Doonbeg, Co Clare.

This is only the fifth appeal by the council against planning authority decisions. So far the council - which was set up in 1995 and whose statutory functions include preserving and protecting the national heritage - has been successful on all decisions made.

The County Council decision to grant planning permission for the golf complex has already been appealed by the environmental network Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) and An Taisce, which has sought an oral hearing.

According to the Heritage Council's submission, the importance of the planning application cannot be overstated in terms of implementing the Habitats Directive. Its purpose is to conserve habitats and species of European significance through the designation of 200 Special Area of Conservation (SAC) throughout the State.

The council is at loggerheads already with the body charged with designating the SACs - Duchas, the heritage service. This is because Duchas decided to reduce the Doonbeg special area site from 266 acres to 51 acres after the US course developers asked it to reconsider the site boundary.

This decision allowed the Irish National Golf Club Ltd to lodge an application for a large-scale development including 80 holiday homes and a 51-bedroom hotel on a site that lies outside the reduced SAC. However, the Heritage Council has appealed Duchas's decision to the SAC Appeal Advisory Board.

According to the Heritage Council's submission to the planning board, the proposed golf course site is within a dune system of international conservation importance, and one which supports a grey dune - a "priority natural habitat" under the terms of the Habitats Directive.

It states: "By its very nature the development of a links golf course at this site will encroach on the very ecological system which there is a clear obligation to protect under EU legislation. It is the opinion of the council that the proposed development will have a serious impact on the nature conservation value of the site."

In the six-page submission, the council also says the proposed development is not in line with the principles of sustainable tourism, and has reservations about the capacity of the Doonbeg sewerage scheme, which caters for 220 people, to accommodate the proposed development.