Culleens service station to be finished
THE Hilltop Service Station at Culleens has gotten the go ahead to be finally finished.
Sligo County Council has granted owner Liam Scott permission to convert the site of the former dance hall to a shop and service station.
It comes eleven years after planning permission was originally granted for the development in 2007. It was never completed but in 2013 planning was granted to finish the station along the N59. Pic
However, the National Roads Authority objected and it was appealed to An Bord Pleanála.
It was again granted permission on 25 th November 2013 but with the stipulation that the first floor of the station be demolished. Engineers for Mr Scott told the Council that a surgical removal of the first floor was “deemed impossible”.
The building has remained half finished with the site hoarding “deteriorated to an unacceptable level” in the five years since, according to chartered engineer, Michael Conmy on behalf of Mr Scott.
If finished now, the development will include a ground floor shop, storage area, office, solid fuel store and toilet facilities; the first floor and basement are to be left unused and as inaccessible voids.
The service station will have a canopy for motorists, car parking and truck parking with a new one way entrance and exit off the main Ballina-Sligo road. Part of the former dance hall will be demolished and a new facade built.
County planners and the Chief Executive Ciarán Hayes granted planning permission earlier this month with 12 conditions attached. Among those were that Mr Scott must pay ¤8,420 to the Council as a contribution towards public infrastructure provided by the Council - 40 per cent for roads (¤3,368) and 60 per cent for recreational and community facilities (¤5,052). Mr Scott must also submit a scheme of litter control for the development to the Council before work starts on the completion of the Hilltop Service Station.