Sir, - I note with interest the laudable sentiments of Terence Reeves-Smyth (October 15th) regarding Jigginstown House.
I would like to draw your attention to a similar situation: the granting of planning permission for a modern block of flats in the village of Cushendall, Co Antrim. This village is designated a conservation area in an area of outstanding natural beauty. It was the second to be so designated in Northern Ireland - the first being Gracehill, Co Antrim. This granting of permission in Cushendall by the Department of the Environment flies in the face of their own guidelines for what may be permitted in such an area. It also goes against the expressed wishes of the people and the wishes of the local council expressed on two separate occasions by unanimous vote of the councillors, that this development should not be permitted.
The apparent treatment of this planning application for flats and that for a private house next door, where the minutiae of the guidelines was insisted upon by officialdom, stand in stark contrast to each other.
I appreciate the possible unintentional note of despair creeping into the last paragraph of Mr Reeves-Smyth's letter where he calls for a register of historic and designed landscapes for Ireland which would give officialdom the knowledge of what should be protected but would not guarantee their safety from those who should be their protectors. - Yours, etc.,
Eamonn Duffy, Coast Road, Cushendall, Co Antrim.