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A DECISION TO refuse a major whiskey project in the midlands over fears it would ‘scar’ the landscape has been slammed as “unwarranted, unfounded and unsubstantiated”.
As previously reported by Fora, Westmeath County Council denied planning permission for Vault Whiskey Store to build a €138 million whiskey maturation complex in Moyvore.
The company applied to install 12 whiskey warehouses on a 100-acre site located 20 minutes from Mullingar.
The plan was to provide a facility where whiskey producers could store and mature their spirits in casks. The spirit needs to be stored and matured for a minimum of three years to qualify as Irish whiskey.
Each warehouse would have had a capacity of 12,500 casks. The project was slated for completion in early 2020.
However, Westmeath Council denied planning permission on the grounds that the development lacked “architectural merit” and would be at odds with the area’s “sensitive rural setting”.
Westmeath County Council said in its refusal that the site “would result in visual scarring of the rural landscape … and would seriously detract from the scenic amenities and setting of this rural landscape”.
Planners also rejected the project over concerns that its “visual dominance” would have an “overbearing impact” on a nearby house and diminish the property’s value.
The council’s decision has since been appealed to the national planning board.
In a document prepared by Cork-based planning consultant Harry Walsh on behalf of Vault Whiskey Store, the developer insisted that the proposed project “will not result in an excessively prominent feature on the landscape”.
Agricultural sheds
As part of its application, Vault Whiskey Store hired two companies to conduct a landscape and visual impact assessment from multiple viewpoints. The report concluded that the complex was located within a “low-sensitivity landscape”.
The company said the maturation warehouses were designed to be screened from a nearby public road “as the business does not require public profile or visibility”.
It said the large-scale warehouses would differ from many other industrial buildings and would resemble farming sheds “which are prominent throughout the Irish countryside”.
It said the proposed development would feature design elements that would have a “far less significant” visual impact than many other developments of a similar scale.
Vault Whiskey Store said it believed the local planning authority had “exaggerated” the potential visual impacts of the whiskey maturation complex.
It said criticism of the landscape and visual assessment commissioned by the company was “unwarranted, unfounded and unsubstantiated”.
National importance
Throughout the appeal to An Bord Pleanála, Vault Whiskey Store stressed that the proposed development was of national importance.
As previously explained by Fora, the whiskey industry has said it needs several large centres for maturing whiskey to hit growth targets.
Maturation is a crucial part of whiskey production. Legally, produce from distilleries can’t be branded as Irish whiskey unless it has been matured for a period of at least three years.
However, large maturation warehouses are expensive to build. Developers must also adhere to strict fire safety laws, and insurance and security costs are high because the value of the product increases every year after the initial three-year period.
“The proposed maturation warehouse facility aims to address the primary challenge facing the continued expansion of the Irish whiskey industry: maturation,” Vault Whiskey Store told the planning board.
It said larger, more established distilleries prefer to use their own maturation facilities and small- to medium-sized distilleries would benefit from central maturation complexes because such developments require significant investment.
We consider that the council’s decision did not have full regard to national policy and that the potential visual impacts of the proposed development were misunderstood and inappropriately assessed.
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
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They will go up regardless now thats its been talked about
@bruce banner: i was just thinking the same…..its the next big excuse to be used…… It will make a change from everything costing 50%more because of Brexit and the war in Ukraine excuse
@bruce banner: Exactly. All companies need id s whiff of an excuse and they jack up the price to twice what any increase would be. It was already shown in a large study in America that 50% of all price increases during the covid affected inflationary period were just pure profiteering.
Another golden opportunity to fleece us
@Ross McAndrew: or an opportunity to find the Golden Fleece
@Ross McAndrew:
Don’t allow anyone to fleece you
All you have to do don’t purchase
very simple but everyone must do it
You will have no impact if just a few people do it
@Donal: that’s true, good advice too :)
If this puts an extra €5 on Jack Daniel’s,it will now make it €24.99 a bottle. Do ya know what,I don’t care. I’m still gonna buy it,and party like it’s €19.99
@Larry Betts: excellent
We criminally pay more for everything in Ireland than the rest of the eu . Insurance. / energy / mortgage … you name it , we pay more for everything.
The Irish government NEVER address this imbalance? Why ?
@BL Music: because they’re the cause/beneficiary of it.
Let the gouging begin!
“The EU has threatened before to place 50% tires on American whiskey,” I wonder if this is the cause of inflation if they continue to pump up the prices…..
@Larry Betts: wrong thread
The world is a con and an illusion. Why they think this is the best system for the people who vote for them to represent us makes no sense.
When they could put a system in place that still lines their pockets but at the same time makes our everyday lives better.
Just when I thought that the EU had run out of ways to screw businesses and lair on more extra costs, they come out with this nonsense. You don’t put out a fire by adding more gasoline to it. By doing reciprocal tariffs, all they are doing is feeding into Trump’s narrative that they are engaging in unfair trading practices and that his tariff increases are justified. The EU already slaps a 10% tariff on cars, a 50% tariff on dairy products, a 20% tariff on cereal grains, a 25% tariff on alcoholic beverages and a 25% tariff on steel + aluminium among other American products. The EU should be looking to get Trump to the negotiating table to discuss a reduction in tariffs, not provoking him further. This is one of the things that I hate about the EU. They are economically illiterate.
@William Jennings: Whats the avg weighted EU tariff William? What’s the US’s? I’ll tell you. It’s 1.6% for the EU and 1.61% for the US as per World Bank. As I have explained to you before, the EU imposes a tariff of 10% on imported cars to protects its manufacturers as cars are the big selling vehicles in the EU. The US on the other hand is 2.5% but cars are not big sellers in the US. It’s mainly pick ups/4x4s/SUVs. The US imposes a 25% tariff on these. So I’m sure you agree 25% is larger than 10% therefore it’s the US that is screwing others over, right? And I’m sure in any negotiations Trump would lower this tariff right? No he wouldn’t because he wants to protect American manufacturers.
Everything is priced to they think society is prepared to pay. If it’s overpriced it doesn’t sell.
We need government price controls.The ‘coalition’ are clueless and don’t give a damn about the mess they have and continue to make of our once proud nation. They have put housing out of the reach of our young( the ones that are still here!).Our ‘normal’ working population is dwindling….expect pension age to be increased to 75 shortly. How come one can purchase a perfectly habitable house in the UK for c.€150,00. In France, Spain, you can buy a house with a pool for similar money but yet in Ireland you are expected to pay the same for a rusty galvanised walls falling down cattle shed that cost even more money to dismantle it before you start the rebuild! The so called Government grants are only being added on to over inflate the buying price. Young people haven’t got a chance.
How to achieve net zero in a subversive way.
Lower taxes on gastronomy and locally produced alcohol!
So long as the price of condoms doesn’t rise(!!), I’ll be fine.
@Harry Callahan: If it doesn’t rise, use Viagara. If nothing else,it’ll stop you rolling out of bed in the middle of the night.
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