Madam, – With regard to the proposed demolition of two protected structures at Blake’s Corner in Ennistymon, Co Clare, to make way for a new roundabout (Home News, December 28th), a council official is quoted as saying that there is “nothing in the current Clare County Development Plan or the North Clare Area Plan” on which to ground the current proposal”.
This is remarkable given what the Development Plan does say about the protection of the county’s built heritage. In its vision statement is a requirement that “the archaeological and architectural heritage of the county will be appreciated and will be protected by ensuring that it is not damaged either by its own decay or destruction or by unsympathetic developments nearby.”
Furthermore, the plan includes an objective “to promote and facilitate the growth of the tourism product through the integration of tourist facilities, including . . . the conservation of the natural and built environment.” The demolition of the two protected 19th-century houses at Blake’s Corner with their surviving Victorian shopfronts would be a significant loss to Ennistymon’s and Co Clare’s built heritage and would be contrary to the provision of the county’s development plan. That this heritage loss is being justified so as to ease tourism traffic is ironic indeed. – Yours, etc,