Decision made on Baysports development

A contentious planning application by Baysports in Hodson Bay has been granted planning approval by Roscommon County Council.

The decision, subject to compliance with 12 separate planning conditions, was listed on the council's website today (Thursday) after being made on Tuesday (January 24).

The application, first lodged in February of last year, covers what's described as an “expansion of existing waterpark facilities” mostly consisting of temporary structures like marquees, inflatable floating objects and waterside installations like slides and platforms that make up the inflatable water park.

The marquees, 17 in all, would be laid over existing ground and require no foundations or disturbance of the ground, it explained, adding that planning was previously granted back in 2013 for an inflatable waterpark. This new application, first lodged in April last year, is intended to replace this previous application.

The marques would include a reception and wet-suit collection area, a safety briefing tent, changing rooms, and an observation area, along with a dining area and a gift shop.

However, the proposal provoked the ire of several angling groups, who were among 18 submissions in total. Among the concerns raised were access to the beach area and public amenity, the “realignment of fences” along with fears about the potential effects on water ecology and the visual effects of the watersports facility.

In April of last year, Roscommon County Council requested further information from the applicant on a wide range of issues from parking, fencing lighting, bird surveys, traffic etc, before a final decision could be made.

This documentation, coming to some 224 pages, was supplied by Baysports in July. It included a revised site layout with slightly fewer marquees.

However, the council paused the application again in September expressing “significant concern” regarding the numbers, extent and scale of the marquees would have “on the landscape at this visually sensitive location”.

It asked for the numbers of marquees to be reduced on-site at the watersports business as part of a clarification of a large amount of further information already submitted by the applicant.

The local authority is also unhappy with the positioning of associated “welded mesh fencing” proposed to secure the marquees, which, it claimed, would “undoubtedly impede public access to the headland”.

Further clarifications were lodged by the applicant in November allowing a final verdict to be made this week.

The content of Tuesday's decision documents and the planning conditions attached to the Baysports approval are not available as of yet on the council website.