Daughter's heartbreak over 300-year-old Galway family house planning refusal before wedding
‘The poor girl cried her eyes out when she got refused. I signed it over to her to get her on the property ladder. We thought it was plain sailing’
A dad who handed over his great-grandparents' old house to his daughter ahead of her wedding is furious that she has seen her plans rejected for an extension and new roof which he said would save the cottage for another generation.
The application from Priscilla Martyn to replace the leaking thatched roof and an extension to the back of the cottage in Holly Hill, Gurtymadden between Loughrea and Portumna, was turned down on multiple grounds by Galway County Council.
But the decision has been lambasted by her father Frank Martyn, who believes the planners want the cottage to fall into rack and ruin rather than be lived in.
His great-grandparents Michael and Helena Martyn built the cottage on the family farm in the 1700s and it was later home to his grandparents Thomas and Mary.
“My daughter would be the fifth generation of the Martyns to live there but it's very dull and sad at the moment and going nowhere. The thatching days are over, it's too expensive and nobody will insure it,” he said.
“It cost €15,000 to thatch it 26 years ago – we kept it thatched up till about ten years ago, but we can no longer do it.
“There's no insurance on it and this will be the second winter my daughter will be living with a leaking roof. It's a tiny two-bedroom cottage and there's rising dampness – it needs a lot of work to save it.”
Priscilla, 31, is planning to get married to Mayo man Cameron Moore next June. The pair both work in Boston Scientific in the city.
“The poor girl cried her eyes out when she got refused. I signed it over to her to get her on the property ladder. We thought it was plain sailing. It's not a protected structure,” exclaimed Frank.
“The planners complained about the sight lines – it's meant to be 215m either side – we have 300m one side and over 500m the other.
“The TII [Transport Infrastructure Ireland] put in a submission, but they didn’t object to anything – nobody's said anything about the sight lines for the last 300 years.”
The project applied for reroofing and energy upgrades to the existing dwelling, construction of a rear extension, recessing of the front boundary wall to widen the existing entrance off the N65. The cottage is recorded on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Galway County Council’s Architectural Conservation Officer recommended it be turned down, stating that the proposal to demolish all the internal walls, substantial sections of the external south facing masonry walls and west gable wall were interventions that ‘are not reversible and destroy historic fabric’.
“Removal of the external lime render and exposing the masonry construction is not recommended. It is unclear the extent of the proposed intervention to the existing eaves as there are no dimensions provided. The drawings appear to present a higher eaves and ridge level than the original building.”
The planner pointed out that the proposed extension is 178sqm which is significantly larger than the 51sqm of the existing cottage to be retained.
“The proposed design, massing, siting and scale of the proposed extension is considered to be excessive and not in keeping with the original cottage and therefore, not subordinate to the main dwelling,” she found.
She stated that insufficient information had been submitted in relation to the proposed wastewater treatment and no sight lines from the site entrance onto the public road were indicated on the layout plan. It would therefore ‘endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard, obstruction of road users’.
The application also did not contain plans of either the shed proposed for demolition or the proposed new garage.
“The Planning Authority considers that the proposed development would set an undesirable precedent for similar future developments and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
“The subject site is occupied by an existing thatched cottage which is recorded on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
“The development as proposed involves interventions that are not reversible and destroy historic fabric, represents a loss of architectural heritage that is unacceptable and would be contrary to [County Development Plan] policy objectives.”
Local Fine Gael Councillor Jimmy McClearn said there are continual refusals by the planners for anything on the N65.
"It sounds harsh but that's how we're depopulating County Galway – by refusing local families permission on their land even when they're prepared to use the same entrances as their parents," he told the Connacht Tribune.
"It's a cruel power play and it's very unfair. We have fought it up and down in relation to local people. In one instance the only son was refused - and he was taking over the farm. Maybe under the new regulations due to come in it might be easier."
Frank recalled that it took his son Calvin five applications before getting permission to build a new house on the family farm. He eventually had to move to a site a mile away off the N65. Calvin has now taken over the running of the farm.
“I'm trying to hold them here, but when a person is turned down for planning for a home it's hard. We will definitely try for it again but didn't appeal as they threw the book at her so we will have to go back to the drawing board.
“The first application cost my daughter €5,000 – and that's for a house already there. It's madness,” he fumed.