The Southern Star

Award-winning Rathbarry in danger of being "mutilated"?

By Jackie Keogh.
The historic and award-winning village of Rathbarry is at risk of being "mutilated" by a new forty-house development, according to a local action group.
An application for forty dwelling houses,garages,sewerage treatment plant and associated site works by Martin O'Leary at Miltown, Castlefreke, was the subject of a public meeting in the village.

An estimated thirty-two members of the fifty-strong community attended the meeting to object to the proposal they claim they will have a detrimental environmental impact on the village as well as nearby Kilkeran Lake and Castlefreke Dunes.
It is understood that the project developer, Mr.Martin O'Leary, is a brother-in-law of the local Tidy Towns Committee chairman, Mr.Eugene Scally. Before going to press repeated attempts were made to speak to the developer, or indeed anyone who openly supported the project, but no one was available for comment.
Rathbarry, which has won Ireland's Tidiest Village award and came within the slimmest of margins of taking the overall award in the National Tidy Towns competition, cannot sustain such large development according to Rathbarry Action Group.

OPPOSED
One of its members, Mrs.Esther O'Regan, is the assistant Secretary of Rathbarry Tidy Towns. She said she was of the opinion that the vast majority of people living in the village "are completely opposed to this development".
In Rathbarry, where there are just fifteen houses, Mrs.O'Regan said forty new townhouse style dwellings would "drown" the landscape and indeed the character of the village.
She said the village has "a distinct historic appearance" and is famous for its large number of listed buildings. The recent restoration of the Rathbarry Castle by Ms. Oakes has also enhanced its historic appeal.
Furthermore, Mrs.O'Regan pointed out that Mrs.Stephen Evan-Freke, a direct descendant of the former owners of Castlefreke Castle, the Carbery Evan-Frekes, bought the derelict historic site with a view to restoring it to its former glory.
Meanwhile, another member of the Rathbarry Action Group, Mrs.Pauline Norris, said: "Our objections fall into several categories, legal, visual, infrastructural and environmental". "Rathbarry is unique", she said, "and anything that can be done to preserve it and prevent it from being ruined forever should be done". Describing the development as "loud and pretentious", she said it is "not at all sympathetic with the identity and special ambience of the village".

IN HEART
Plans to locate the new estate "a few yards below the Catholic Church", which is in the heart of the village, has also been critised by the group. Complaints in relation to increased traffic and potential hazards to motorists and pedestrians were included in the list of objections.

The number of objections, reported to be as many as twenty-five, also include concerns over the possible environmental damage to Kilkeran Lake and Castlefreke Dunes, which are a Special Area of Conservation.
"The location of the proposed sewerage system -even a wetland system- is unsuitable", she said. "It would be sited in a marshland, just yards from existing residential property".
There are also concerns that the sewerage system would impact on Miltown River and have long-term consequences for Kilkeran Lake and the Castelfreke Dunes.
An Taisce have also addressed this issue and, in a statement submitted to Cork County Council, the organization's Heritage Officer, Mr.Ian Lumley, said he believed the development was "significantly in excess of local housing need and, because of its location, would be targeted for the holiday home and second home market".