Car dismantling business before the court over planning issue
THE fate of a New Ross vehicle dismantling business hangs in the balance after a planning issue was considered at the District Court in Wexford.
Judge Bernadette Owens considered a prosecution taken against Patrick Byrne of Boherstooka, Ballyanne.
Council solicitor Caitriona Walsh acknowledged that Byrne’s ‘end of life’ facility was granted planning permission back in 2011.
However, she complained that an enterprise which was supposed to be limited to 39 vehicles was handling more than 100 cars.
The fence permitted under the terms of the planning permission had been deliberately moved in order to extend the site, she stated.
Byrne’s subsequent planning applications were turned down, in 2012, 2015 (twice) and 2017, with one of the four applications also failing to win Bord Pleanála approval on appeal.
Ms Walsh pointed out that the facility is upstream from the New Ross water intake in an area liable to flooding and said the county council was anxious to protect the town’s water supply.
The accused man was not in court for the proceedings but he was represented by his nephew Philip and by solicitor Sean Lowney.
The solicitor said that his client had been in business for more than 40 years and that he had four full-time employees.
Judge Owens suggested that Byrne’s application for an adjournment was an exercise in kicking the can down the road.
However, she allowed the defendant until September to come up with proposals for reducing the number of vehicles at Boherstooka.