HOW ON EARTH DID THAT GET PLANNING PERMISSION ?

stefan idiot jones

I was down Dunmore East last week, which is one of the most picturesque and mostly unspoilt places in Ireland, when my eyes were drawn to an absolute monstosity of a dwelling over looking the strand under the golf club. Flat roof, carved into the hillside, huge glass walls and one of the best views around. Please shed some light on what someone had to do get get planning permission to build that there ? Don't get me wrong, I am not a jealous begrudger but it is hardly in keeping with the thatched village is it ?
Yours confused Stefan.

fozzle

There was an existing building there so it wouldn't have been as difficult for permission for an empty site.

Oh and btw, it's not "a thatched village", i think there's two original thatches, the ones in the lower village (by the beach) are modern holiday homes. Dunmore's a modern bustling village with a lot more to attract people than out of date building materials.

stefan idiot jones

What I meant is that nearly all the buildings close to the village itself are at least sympathetic to the period, and then there is THAT.

wellboytoo

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I happen to think it is a beautiful piece of architecture , .... someone has to love the fat wans I suppose?

stefan idiot jones

Being a blow in, the rural,rustic charm of Irelands towns and villages is always something I find comforting compared to the u.k where everything gets a facelift every couple of years. Most of our towns are concrete and glass monoliths with zero charm or personality. You may look at the culchies and country towns as backward but I find them utterley charming.

looksee

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Being a blow in, the rural,rustic charm of Irelands towns and villages is always something I find comforting compared to the u.k where everything gets a facelift every couple of years. Most of our towns are concrete and glass monoliths with zero charm or personality. You may look at the culchies and country towns as backward but I find them utterley charming.

mutter mutter - condescending, generalised, exaggerated twaddle - mutter

stefan idiot jones

Just my opinion. What I have found here is that a lot of people dont realise what they have here on their doorstep. The Comeraghs, Dunmore East, Lismore, The Copper Coast, Ring, Ardmore, Mt. Mellory, Stradbally, Waterford Castle. FFS Just to name a few. If half the down trodden "townies" ventured further than B&Q or Ardkeen they they might have a different perspective of this BEAUTIFUL county of theirs.

looksee

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Just my opinion. What I have found here is that a lot of people dont realise what they have here on their doorstep. The Comeraghs, Dunmore East, Lismore, The Copper Coast, Ring, Ardmore, Mt. Mellory, Stradbally, Waterford Castle. FFS Just to name a few. If half the down trodden "townies" ventured further than B&Q or Ardkeen they they might have a different perspective of this BEAUTIFUL county of theirs.

Completely agree about the Waterford villages - tho' you are being selective! However what you did was compare one of Ireland's scenic coastal villages with any random bit of industrial townscape in the UK. People would be rightly annoyed if you made a similar comparison in reverse. Then you are managing to compound the patronising bit by making more generalised remarks about the people of Waterford. And before you ask, if it was aimed at me, I am also a blow-in, and have visited all the places you list, and more besides.

If you want to criticise a building, fine, but if you are going to make comparisons keep them legitimate.

Poor Uncle Tom

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

the rural,rustic charm of Irelands towns and villages is always something I find comforting compared to the u.k where everything gets a facelift every couple of years.

This doesn't make a lick of sense given the rigorous preservation routines in places like:
Bladon, Oxfordshire,
Bledington, Gloucestershire,
Bledlow, Buckinghamshire,
Boscastle, Cornwall,
Bourton On The Water, Gloucestershire,
Bray, Berkshire,
Briantspuddle, Dorset,
Broad Capmden, Gloucestershire,
Broadway, Worchestershire,
Broadwell,Gloucestershire,
Buckland, Gloucestershire,
Burleigh, Gloucestershire,
Burnham Market, Norfolk,
Burton Bradstock, Dorset,
Bythorn, Cambridgeshire,
Cadgwith, Cornwall,
Caldbeck, Cumbria,
Cartmel, Cumbria,
I can go on and on and on and that's only England, let alone the rest of the UK.

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Most of our towns are concrete and glass monoliths with zero charm or personality.

You really need to get out more.

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

You may look at the culchies and country towns as backward but I find them utterley charming.

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

If half the down trodden "townies" ventured further than B&Q or Ardkeen they they might have a different perspective of this BEAUTIFUL county of theirs.

Take a leaf out of your own book, please.

stefan idiot jones

Ah, at last someone has got my point. you mentioned preservation. What I am questioning is that County Waterfords "Jewel" in my eyes has now got a hideous pimple spoiling its near perfect face. Being a joiner in my forties and having travelled extensivlely throughout the u.k. constructing hideous nightclubs to renovating Scottish manor houses to fabricating exhibition stands, I have had enough experience working with and around preservation orders, building regulations and warrants, permits and restrictions to know that either no-one responsible for planning cares any more about being in keeping with the area or there was a brown envelope involved. I lived in Edinburgh and East Lothian for six years and I have yet to come across tighter building control/regulations. I applaud them. There are some zones a mile outside Edinburghs city centre that still cannot have pvc windows or double glazed units, and it reflects well on them. The whole of Pragues city centre is a UNESCO heritige site and what a place that has remained. I totally understand that it is near impossible for any western city to retain its olde worlde charm, its called progress I guess, However there is really no excuse for allowing that blot on the landscape. Moderators, please feel free to correct my experience or opinions. Thank you, Stefan

Poor Uncle Tom

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Ah, at last someone has got my point. you mentioned preservation. What I am questioning is that County Waterfords "Jewel" in my eyes has now got a hideous pimple spoiling its near perfect face. Being a joiner in my forties and having travelled extensivlely throughout the u.k. constructing hideous nightclubs to renovating Scottish manor houses to fabricating exhibition stands, I have had enough experience working with and around preservation orders, building regulations and warrants, permits and restrictions to know that either no-one responsible for planning cares any more about being in keeping with the area or there was a brown envelope involved. I lived in Edinburgh and East Lothian for six years and I have yet to come across tighter building control/regulations. I applaud them. There are some zones a mile outside Edinburghs city centre that still cannot have pvc windows or double glazed units, and it reflects well on them. The whole of Pragues city centre is a UNESCO heritige site and what a place that has remained. I totally understand that it is near impossible for any western city to retain its olde worlde charm, its called progress I guess, However there is really no excuse for allowing that blot on the landscape.

Now there's a well thought out and reasoned argument which is really at odds from your first posts here.

Do you think it is a good thing to have such tight preservation controls on a town or village that all you end up doing is seeming to preserve it in a particular period of history? To what end? So that some passing tourist can utter the word 'quaint' as they drive through?

I believe there are merits to elements of preservation but I also believe that the more rigorous the preservation controls the more oppressive it is on the occupants and owners of those buildings.

Also, just a point, but who decides at what period of history should a town or village be suspended at? as most towns have layers of building history each as valid as the next.

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Moderators, please feel free to correct my experience or opinions. Thank you, Stefan

Now that's just cheeky....:p

looksee

I agree with PUT here, nothing wrong with preserving heritage buildings, but that is not a final statement on what the man-made environment should look like. There has to be forward movement, I would hate to see us stagnate in chocolate box thatched cottages.

A few real ones, maintained, look appealing. Don't lets forget though that they were damp, draughty, insanitary buildings in their original form. Only modern plumbing and lots of heating keeps them habitable now. There is no reason for thatch on the modern-built houses, except to attract sentimental tourists. Which is not a bad reason in a country that depends so much on tourism, but there isn't any architectural integrity about it, its the first step towards turning the country into a theme park. Which is a whole different argument.

stefan idiot jones

Thank you lads for the debate. Stefan.

Demonical

I saw that house and thought who in their right mind would want a house there. Its next to the car park where there will be alot of cars and foot fall during the summer. Ive also seen tents up around that area at times and a load of cars meeting for whatever at night..

stefan idiot jones

Without sounding cruel, maybe it's karma at work ?

Cabbage_Head

In fairness I have to agree with you Stefan, I thought at first maybe it was some kind of shop or restaraunt/cafe which would probably do really well during the summer months.
But I mean whoever is planning on living there is probably going to get terrorised, or on the other end of the scale will be complaining to everyone about what goes on in the carpark which technically, in all fairness, is none of their business.

wellboytoo

Cabbage_Head wrote: »

In
But I mean whoever is planning on living there is probably going to get terrorised, or on the other end of the scale will be complaining to everyone about what goes on in the carpark which technically, in all fairness, is none of their business.

And you know this for a fact? They probably have upset the balance of the tectonic plates under Dunmore as well,we are all doomed run for your lives.
The family have a residence there for over fifty years,I don't think a bit of horizontal jogging in the car park is going to upset them.

JonathonS

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

I was down Dunmore East last week, which is one of the most picturesque and mostly unspoilt places in Ireland, when my eyes were drawn to an absolute monstosity of a dwelling over looking the strand under the golf club. Flat roof, carved into the hillside, huge glass walls and one of the best views around. Please shed some light on what someone had to do get get planning permission to build that there ? Don't get me wrong, I am not a jealous begrudger but it is hardly in keeping with the thatched village is it ?

I saw it a few weeks ago. Its a bit exposed at the moment because its cut into the hill, but when the greenery grows back behind it will be much less noticable. I took a photo of it from the beach but the shot was ruined by that eyesore of a lifeguards' hut.

This type of modern design is a welcome change to the nondescript faux-Georgian boxes that blight the landscape around many of our seaside towns. I'd love to own a house in Dunmore and that one would be high on my list. I would be a bit concerned about the goings on in the car park though.....

Cabbage_Head

wellboytoo wrote: »

And you know this for a fact? They probably have upset the balance of the tectonic plates under Dunmore as well,we are all doomed run for your lives.
The family have a residence there for over fifty years,I don't think a bit of horizontal jogging in the car park is going to upset them.

I have lived in Dunmore East all my life, I know all too well what goes on in that carpark. When I was younger i was wholeheartedly involved. Would you feel comfortable sitting in a sitting room with massive big windows on a Friday night with cars pulling up doing god knows what. I know I wouldn't

spankmemunkey

They are probably Dogging fans!

robp

looksee wrote: »

I agree with PUT here, nothing wrong with preserving heritage buildings, but that is not a final statement on what the man-made environment should look like. There has to be forward movement, I would hate to see us stagnate in chocolate box thatched cottages.

A few real ones, maintained, look appealing. Don't lets forget though that they were damp, draughty, insanitary buildings in their original form. Only modern plumbing and lots of heating keeps them habitable now. There is no reason for thatch on the modern-built houses, except to attract sentimental tourists. Which is not a bad reason in a country that depends so much on tourism, but there isn't any architectural integrity about it, its the first step towards turning the country into a theme park. Which is a whole different argument.

As a local I couldn't disagree more. On a practical level thatched cottages aren't so inefficient and would be superior energywise to many houses built up to 1980 (before insulation). There is no danger in 'stagnating in thatched houses', as there is a steady decline in their numbers. I have lived in the UK and I am in Germany right now. In my experience of all we have the most soft touch planning regulations, and to our detriment. The ghost and floodplain housing prove that.

The reality is that many domestic buildings from before 1900 have far higher architectural value than modern equivalents. This old world feel creates beauty and this is what thrills tourists. I can assure you the charm of our built heritage already compares poorly to continental Europe. I can recall Slovakian friends of mine who upon visiting expressed disappointment about the mediocrity of Dublin's appearance. Our Georgian streets, rural thatches and castles are the only thing which keeps Ireland remotely competitive. Glass and steel can be found in any country on the planet.