Aghadoe brewing project appealed

AN BORD Pleanála is due to make a decision this summer on a Killarney Distillers Limited planning application, which includes a request to refurbish a 19th-century coach-house on Aghadoe House curtilage and use it as part of a craft distillery.

The application, lodged last May with Kerry County Council, also seeks to reinstate a roof and add a glazed canopy to the derelict building. ‘Minor alterations’ to the building would allow for other facilities, while the applicant is looking to reinstate perimeter buildings within the existing courtyard, in place of lost historic structures, to provide other facilities.

Amongst other matters, the application also seeks to construct a new mill house/multi-purpose event space, and a new maturation storage building.

Southgate Associates Heritage Conservation Specialists issued a lengthy submission on behalf of the application. It said that, by association with Aghadoe House, the coach house was a protected structure and that “given its neglected condition, work is urgently required...to protect the architectural and historic significance of the structure”.

Kerry County Council granted permission for the development in

January, subject to 36 conditions.

The decision has been appealed, however, by ‘Lakes and Rivers of Kerry’.

Its secretary, Michael Horgan of 2 Upper Cloonbeg, Tralee, said the site is “not at all suitable for such a large industrial project”, and he argued that it would be better suited to being closer to Killarney town, “where there are many vacant industrial sites”.

Among his list of concerns, Mr Horgan said he was worried about the effect the project would have on local wildlife.

The case is due to be decided by June 22, 2020.

An Bord Pleanála is to decide on a planning application for conservation and refurbishment of a derelict 19th century coach house and court yard next to Aghadoe House, Fossa, (pictured above) to incorporate a craft distillery.