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CENTER PARCS HAS been given the green light to develop a €233m holiday resort in Co Longford.
An Bord Pleanála decided to uphold the planning permission granted by Longford County Council for the development of Center Parcs’ Longford Forest holiday village on a 405-acre site in Newcastle Wood, near Ballymahon.
Martin Dalby, CEO of Center Parcs, said the company welcomes the news.
Since we announced our desire to bring the Center Parcs experience to Ireland last April, we have been overwhelmed by the positive support we have received at both local and national level and we are looking forward to forging ahead to bring our plans to fruition.
The company believes that Center Parcs Longford Forest will have a “transformative effect” on the midlands region in both tourism and economic terms.
The next step for Center Parcs is to move to the procurement phase of the project which will be followed by construction. The planned opening date is in 2019.
In its planner’s report, An Bord Pleanála notes:
It is noted that Longford and the midlands region are currently underdeveloped in terms of tourism infrastructure with limited guest accommodation in Longford. The woodland and ecological benefits of the proposal are also outlined. In terms of roads and traffic it is considered that subject to compliance with conditions that the proposal is satisfactory from a road safety viewpoint.
Three third-party appeals were received by the board, relating to issues such as scale and design, that they believed the brochure imagery was misleading, the presence of a nearby landfill dump, and concerns about tree loss and traffic.
Center Parcs Longford Forest will create approximately 750 jobs during construction, and once open it will cater for up to 2,500 guests and employ up to 1,000 people in permanent jobs.
The company expects that most of the roles will be filled by employees between the ages of 18 and 24, with the majority of them likely to live locally and in the surrounding midlands region.
Center Parcs estimates that, when operational, the new holiday village will add approximately €32 million to Ireland’s GDP per annum.
Center Parcs offers short breaks in a secluded and natural woodland setting.
Center Parcs Longford Forest will have up to 500 lodges, more than 100 indoor and outdoor activities, a spa, a range of restaurants and cafés and a Subtropical Swimming Paradise, said the company.
The company said that Center Parcs Longford Forest “will have a dedicated team of Conservation Rangers who will protect and nurture the beautiful woodland”.
Longford/Westmeath TD Deputy Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran said the decision to give the go-ahead to Longford Forest Center Parcs is ”a major vote of confidence in the region”.
He said that he hopes that the news will deliver a permanent boost to the local economy, comparing it to “an Intel or Google coming to the midlands”.
The company operates five short break destinations across the UK: Whinfell Forest, Cumbria; Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire; Elveden Forest, Suffolk; Woburn Forest, Bedfordshire and Longleat Forest, Wiltshire.
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Love to know what sat nav he was using as Grafton street has been pedestrian since the 80′s
@Derek hutchings: Depends what time late night early morning it is opened to delivery vans and trucks.
@Derek hutchings: probably Google because its hopeless.
@James O’Brien: i am not making excuses for this driver. It just reminded me I was visiting Brussels a few years ago and used my Garmin sat nav to get around on foot, you can set it for “pedestrian mode” so it will navigate you to your destination down pedestrian only areas. The next day I was using the same sat nav in the rental car and I forgot to reset the setting for “car mode”….it took me a while to realize why it was telling me to get off every motorway and use minor roads and telling me to go down pedestrian only alleys etc. GPS/Sat Navs are really great but it doesn’t mean you have to suspend your common sense and just blindly follow a device like that.
@James O’Brien: sat nav sent me towards a one way. I didn’t follow instructions as I knew the street. Both iPhone and google sat navs are unreliable regularly
@Diddles Daffy: they are only unreliable if you follow them without looking at road sings.
Thought there were barriers to stop random drivers taking to Grafton St.
@Brendan Geoghegan: Best hope the Ones who want to “kill” us all don’t read this article.
@Brendan Geoghegan: I was just looking at these this week… big boxes with a huge gap on either side big enough to fit an arctic down. luckily we only have satnav related issues, and not something bigger.
The ‘sat nav’ was probably an old Ordnance Survey Map with compass-
A tweet and 4 sentences, where the 4 sentences repeat exactly what the tweet says but even more impressive, the first and last sentence repeat each other.
What’s new. There are unaccompanied Learner Drivers everywhere including on the motorways. No enforcement unless in s bizarre instance like this, and the insurance continue to give them 3rd party cover so as to collect the huge premiums they can charge them
@Randal McNally: Insurance is nullified if you don’t have a full licenced driver with you on a learner permit I think, so they were also uninsured..
I hope they impounded that pesky satnav to be sent to the crusher.
Spud picker no doubt lol
@shane campion: or perhaps an Abbey St smackie local.
You’d think with the terror threat that all heavy pedestrianised streets would be protected by Barriers and bollards to prevent vehicles travelling down them.
@Jordan Kearney:
That’s what buskers are for!
I was in college in Wexford about 10 years ago and a girl and her BF drove to Dublin for the first time with his Dads sat nav.
Well I couldn’t stop laughing for days later !!!! The sat nav brought them into Dublin up the old coast road through Wicklow they didn’t know there was a better road like the N11 and M50 !!!!
Off to the crushers with it.
@Reg: Surprised to see a Ford Focus been driven up Grafton St without breaking down. One of the worst cars on the road. It would be no loss if it was crushed!
@Maureen: I just traded in a Ford Focus, had it 4 years, drove 80,000km. Never had as much as a puncture. Just saying.
@Maureen: Ignorant comment, ford focus is one of the best selling cars for over 20 years, if they were that bad they wouldn’t be around.
@brendan H: friend had an usual 1.9 Gia Focus Saloon Diesel 120 BHP absolute dynamite beautiful car never gave trouble except heavy on suspension parts.
Why is it when Idiots act the Idiot and when they are caught its usually no Insurance ,NCT , and no driving licence
@Scottyal: because, only idiots drive without tax, insurance or NCT!
@Peter Cavey: Yes we already know that But to draw attention to yourself
You’d imagine that because of all that ,they’d at least try not to bring attention onto themselves
@Scottyal: because they are allowed to do it,guards couldn’t give a toss now who is on the road.legal or not.
Nobody should blindly follow a satnav.. if road signs say something and the satnav says something else then go with the road sign. The satnav will recalculate, but there will be no recalculation of the fine or the penalty points…!!
@Stephen Duffy: me thinks the sat nav had nothing to do with this one though
Typical motorist, won’t be long before he’s doing hit and runs
At least he wasnt one of those idiots driving with an L AND a N plate – by himself. Why are the Garda letting off people who display L plates who are alone in their cars? Do we have to wait for them to do something stupid to stop them?
@Dave Harris:
The lone drivers may be the fully licenced and insured ‘accompianist” in some cases.
@Dave Harris: what if they have a licensed split personality?
@Michael Kavanagh: the plates are only supposed to be up when th e car is being used by the learner or novice, they are not permanent.
@Dave Harris: L DRIVERS driving on their own is against the law now,but still they ignore the law,guards couldn’t be bothered enforcing it anyway,it’s no wonder they are still doing it.
@GClare:
Its not easy to get the usual vinyl types off and impossible to get them back in right.
@Michael Kavanagh: so why have they got L plates on the car?
L plates are to tell others a learner is driving.
They’re not hard to take off and put back on when a learner is actually driving
Ford. A great car, had one for 10 years no trouble
@Roy Keating Sr.: I had a rental one recently – found it to be a very heavy vehicle with the requirement for a petrol tanker driving behind you, but then I was waiting on my efficient diesel to be repaired
Idiot
My sat nav on my phone samsung s7 did the same from Harcourt street
I hope his driving license will be revoked for life.
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