Revised conditions to develop former Twilight Zone site
Permission has been granted for the demolition of the former Twilight Zone premises at 4 Church Place in Fermoy for the redevelopment of the site.
In its place, the planning applicant, DASCL Property Ltd, has sought to construct a new residential development consisting of nine dwelling units on the site, located at the bottom of Oliver Plunkett Hill.
The Twilight Zone bar and nightclub was established back in the 1970s by Bernie Tobin of The Fontana Showband after he and his family had settled in Fermoy. Prior to that, it was the home and public house of the Meehan family and was once known as The Royal Oak.
Originally, planning permission for the development was submitted to Cork County Council in August 2020 seeking the demolition of the existing single-story and three-story buildings, to allow for the three-story apartment development to take place with two own-door apartment blocks.
At the time, the planning permission application comprised of the development of four 1 bedroom ground floor apartments, one 1 bedroom and four 2 bedroom first- floor duplex units.
The construction would also involve the relocation of an advertising billboard, along with the creation of a new vehicular entrance off of Oliver Plunkett Hill. A number of submissions were made to Cork County Council regarding the development.
Concerns raised related to several issues: the impact on the Architectural Conservation Area (ACA), on protected structures, and on pedestrians and cyclists, insufficient on-site parking, traffic impact, overlooking, noise, impact on daylight, excessive density, inadequacy of drawings, lack of residential amenity for occupiers, and the impact of the relocated billboard.
Permission for the development was granted by the council in late May this year, subject to 19 conditions.
In June, the development was brought before An Bord Pleanala as a third party planning appeal and the development has since been granted permission with revised conditions.
According to the inspector’s report in An Bord Pleanala’s planning documents, the development would be in accordance with the provisions of the Cork County Development Plan and the Fermoy Town Council Development Plan.
“( The proposed development) would be acceptable in terms of height, scale, and density, would not seriously injure the visual amenities of the area or the residential amenities of adjoining properties, would represent an appropriate design response to the site’s context within a designated Architectural Conservation Area, and would be acceptable in terms of pedestrian, cyclist and traffic safety,” the document read.
A total of 11 conditions were attached to the newly granted permission relating to external finishes, boundary treatment and landscaping, architectural heritage, residential amenity, public safety and waste management.