Hopes for funding for a massive regeneration of Schull Harbour have been dashed as its planning permission is running out.
According to the Southern Star, in the West Cork sailing centre has twice been proposed by Cork County Council for rural regeneration funding administered by the Department of Rural Affairs.
The €5 million plans, which follow on from the community-procured pontoon that opened in mid-2018, include a 225-berth marina and slipway with a breakwater.
But a meeting in November heard that even if the project were to be approved, construction would not begin until a month shy of is planning permission expiry in October 2022.
It’s reported that factors influencing the change in stance include the refusal of the breakwater portion of the development, which raises conservation concerns.
Now the council has been asked to explain its about-face on the matter after “20 odd years of hard work”.
Writing to the same newspaper, local resident and businessman Denis Quinlan says he is “deeply concerned at the flippant response of Cork County Council to this very important project that could mean so much to the commercial sustainability of the entire Mizen peninsula”.
The Southern Star has more on the story HERE.
Update 30 December 2020: The story has been edited to clarify the statement on the refusal of planning permission for the breakwater. The original statement misconstrued its relationship to local conservation concerns.
