New houses sought at former Mescall's service station

The demolition of a former service station in Watergrasshill village centre has been sought to allow for the development of thirteen new homes.

The premises, formerly Mescalls Stores located on the Main Street at the northern end of the village, is the subject of a recent planning application to Cork County Council. Permission is sought for the demolition of the existing dwelling, retail units, service station, garage and all associated storage buildings, including fuel tanks located beneath the forecourt.

The site has long been described as an ' eyesore' in the village and has remained empty since the passing of Billy Mescall in October 2000.

Documents associated with the planning application note that at present, the site is ‘essentially a brownfield site with the remains of a disused service station, shop and other ancillary facilities on the existing site’.

“The buildings on site have not been in use for some considerable period of time and are now in a relatively dilapidated state and are no longer in a state that can be reasonably brought back to use,” the documents read.

In its place, the application seeks the construction of a residential development, comprising of 13 two-storey dwellings with car parking, boundary treatments, landscaping and all associated site works.

Within the submission, planning for 2 two-bed houses and 11 three-bed houses are sought, along with a total of 13 car parking spaces. Planning documents note that it is the intention of the developer that a proportion of the residential units be set aside for affordable housing, with this being identified as the two-bedroom units.

“It is anticipated that houses will be attractive for firsttime buyers as similar types of dwellings are in very short supply at present which is making it extremely difficult for younger couples to remain in the area,” the planning document notes.

The current planning application is a revision of a previous application which comprised of the demolition of the existing buildings on site and the construction of a three-storey building with a basement. That application had sought the development of six retail units on the ground floor with 16 apartments across the first and second floors, along with parking in the basement.

A decision on the current proposed works is expected on May 28th.