Kenny’s nursing home fight sett for fresh appeal from developers
Badgers still major stumbling block
DEVELOPERS in a planning battle with broadcaster Pat Kenny and his neighbours have appealed a decision rejecting a proposed nursing home in their village.
Objectors to the 104-bedroom development, including Kenny and his wife Kathy whose luxury Dalkey home would be adjacent, have claimed it would destroy a badger sett in the area.
Now the company behind the scheme, Bartra, has told An Bord Pleanala that it will submit a detailed badger conservation plan to wildlife authorities for agreement.
The Bartra appeal states the proposal will include details of how the badger sett would be preserved within the site, maintaining access from the sett to foraging grounds and for the prevention of disturbance during badger breeding season.
In their objection to the scheme next to their property, the Kennys claimed the “straightforward commercially driven enterprise cannot justify killing the badgers of Bulloch Harbour”.
They stated that any destruction of the colony would be “cruel and unconscionable”.
Describing how “fortunate” they were to have a badger sett on their property, the Kennys added: “It is not just our family but the entire neighbourhood, particularly the children, who enjoy these shy nocturnal creatures.”
Meanwhile, as part of a 67-page appeal against the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council decision to refuse planning, consultants for Bartra said the nursing home scheme will meet a local need for residential care.
The Kennys’ property has a boundary with the proposed development and the Bartra appeal states that a residents’ garden would be planned for the end of the site next to the broadcaster’s home.