Major Boost for S Kilkenny/ New Ross area

road_high

http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=2594&ArticleID=1778259
100 million euro boost for south
A 100 million euro development is set to shake up a sleepy part of South Kilkenny.
A new five star hotel, championship golf course, two-storey nursing home, apartment blocks, housing developments and a raft of specialist services is set to transform centuries old Annaghs House on the banks of the River Barrow.
Located six miles from Inistioge and three miles from New Ross, the former home of the Butlers of Ormonde will be responsible for bringing unprecedented prosperity to the area.
The development charges alone will come to a staggering E1.25 million; guaranteeing Kilkenny Co Council a lucrative pay-day once the project gets up and running.
Hundreds of jobs will be created during construction but it will be afterwards that the real benefits will come.
It will double the size of Rosbercon parish which at present has only 411 residents and 141 homes.
Long-term, sustainable jobs will be created in the hotel, golf course and nursing home.
There will be huge spin-offs locally in terms of service contracts.
It is understood that the German owners of Annaghs House, who have close connections with the Volkswagen company, are developing the estate themselves, through a company called Catanga Ltd.
For the last two and a half years, the project has gone through the planning process handled by Elliot Design of Waterford.
It finally received planning permission last week with 45 different conditions attached to it.
Senator John Paul Phelan from Tullogher is backing the project and says it has the potential to become a great attraction for the immediate hinterland and the region.
"We would hope that Annaghs House and estate will do for Rosbercon what Mount Juliet did for Thomastown," the Fine Gael Oireachtas member said.
As well as paying over E1.2 million in charges, the developers must also set up a residential management company to oversee the affairs of all strands of the development.
A survey on the local bat population was carried out as part of the exhaustive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
As part of the permission, the council stipulated that the 83 apartments can only be hired out to the hotel for 43 weeks of the year with the owners having an option to use them for the other nine weeks of the year.
The nursing home will have 20 houses associated with it, while a separate scheme will have 30 two-storey houses for use as permanent residences.
20 September 2006